The Law and Soul of Tennis
by Lady-of-Defiance
Summary: 2 GEN. STORY Reiko had high hopes of becoming a new person in Japan, that is until her father's fame interfered.
1. Prologue

A small, blue car was racing in and out of traffic as its driver tried desperately to reach their destination as soon as possible. The driver looked up at their rearview mirror, checking on their passengers; a pregnant woman and her friend. The woman's contractions were getting stronger, the baby would come soon. The driver cursed as she nearly avoided hitting a truck. She was to damn old for this and her grandson-in-law wasn't picking up his phone. His first child was about to be born and he couldn't bother to pick up the phone. Granted he was probably still playing his match, but he had to take a break sometime soon. She silently cursed him to as they reached the hospital. The old woman pulled right up to the ER and quickly shouted for help. It soon came as they lifted the woman from the car and put her on a gurney and took her away. One of the nurses, she presumed, told her that she needed to park her car somewhere other than the middle of the entrance. She nodded and quickly went to do so. As soon as she turned the car off she reached for her cellphone and dialed her dimwitted grandson. Each ring made her become more antsy and frustrated. She really was getting to old for this. Finally someone picked up the phone.

"Hello.."

"Where is he?" she screeched into the phone, not even bothering to be polite.

"Uh…if you mean Mr. Echizen he's currently playing…"

"Well tell him to hurry it up or leave! His first child is going to be born and so help me if he misses it I will take that stupid racket of his and smash it over his head until his skull or the racket breaks, which ever comes first!" she yelled.

"Um…I…I'll tell him right away ma'am," the assistant replied. The old woman just hmphed and hung up. She got out of the car and quickly went inside to check on her granddaughter. She couldn't help but smile, she was going to be a great-grandma. She had hoped she'd live to see this. A frown quickly replaced the smile, that idiot better get here soon.

"Uh, sir?" a rather flustered assistant walked up to man sitting on a bench. The man was tall and lean. He had well-built muscles in both his arms and legs, traits gained from years of playing tennis. The man looked up at the assistant. The assistant became even more flustered; the man's golden cat-like eyes always freaked him out.

"Yes?" the man asked, seeing as now the assistant hadn't carried on. The assistant snapped out of it.

"Uh, your wife's grandmother just called and it seems that the, uh...baby is coming," the assistant said. The man stood up and picked up his racket. He began to mess with the strings, a habit he had had since he was young.

"I see, let me guess, she said to hurry up or else she'd do some horrible thing to me?" the man said smirking. The assistant just gulped and nodded. The man's smile just grew, he adjust his hat and started walking back out to the court. The score was 5-2, in his favor and it was his service next. He was going to have to make this fast, he'd rather not face Obaa-san's wrath, plus he'd been waiting for this day for quite awhile. He tossed the ball into the air.

"Aaaah!" a woman screamed in her hospital bed. Her hands were griping the sheets. Her face was contorted with pain. Her friend was trying to consol her while her grandmother was keeping an eye out for a certain cat-eyed man.

"Ma'am, you're almost fully dilated, the baby will be ready soon," said the nurse in charge. "The doctor will be here soon." The woman shook her head and mumbled something incoherent. Her friend patted her hand.

"Don't worry Sakuno-chan, I'm sure he'll be here soon," said her best friend, Tomoko.

"He had better or so help me I'll…"

"So help you or you'll do what, Obaa-san?" asked a cat-eyed man who just entered. He smirked at his grandmother-in-law.

"Ryoma Echizen! What took you so long?!" yelled Ryuzaki.

"It was a difficult match…"

"Don't give me that crap Echizen! You probably…"

"Um…excuse me but, the baby is coming," the nurse interjected. The two quickly ended the argument and Ryoma went over to his wife and grasped her hand (his right hand, just to be safe).

"You'll be okay Sakuno," he said soothingly. She had a death grip on his hand. Tomoka had her other hand. Sakuno let out another scream of pain. The doctor came in and checked on her, he signaled to the nurse that she was indeed ready to give birth.

"Ma'am, on the count of three I want you to push with all you can, alright? One…two…three…"

A few hours later the child was born and its vitals had checked out nicely and the family left with their newest member in tow. Sakuno was still very exhausted but would not give up one second of cradling her child.

"For goodness sakes Sakuno, the child will have to eventually leave your arms anyway. Make your husband useful and let him hold his child," said an exasperated Ryuzaki. The father however was against it; he was never really good with kids.

"Maybe you should just give it to Tomo…"

"I don't think so! You're a father and you should get used to it starting now. And the child is not an "it" Ryoma. You gave her a name did you not?" argued Ryuzaki. She carefully lifted the tiny girl out of Sakuno's arms and handed it to the uneasy father. He, (however uncomfortable he might have been) automatically put his arms in the correct position to carry the baby. He looked down at his daughter with a worried look on his face. He wanted to be father, which he was sure about, but now it was different from the time he had first found out Sakuno was pregnant. Now it was real, it was a real human being he was holding, not just a bulge in his wife's stomach. She would gain her own personality and possibly turn out to hate him at some point…

"My God Echizen! She isn't a slug, she's your daughter! Don't hold her away from your body! Babies need warmth, hold her close," Ryuzaki instructed. Ryoma did as he was told and brought the baby up to his chest. The child squirmed and leaned closer to him. He couldn't help but smile slightly at this action.

"Come on now, let's all get home and make phone calls, cuz Lord knows we have a hell of a lot to make," Ryuzaki said. She and Tomo had successfully moved Sakuno into the car from the wheelchair. Ryuzaki made a move to take the child from Ryoma, but his arms instinctively curled around her tighter. Ryuzaki gave him an inquisitive look but said nothing. The all got into the car, with Ryoma seated next to Sakuno in the back.

"Looks like someone is bonding," said Ryuzaki as she looked in her rearview mirror at Echizen. Ryoma just scowled at her. He looked again down at his daughter. She had thin black-green hair on her head. She pressed her eyelids closer together before actually opening them. When she did it revealed hazel-cat eyes like his. His smile grew larger. He leaned a little closer to Sakuno to let her see.

"Neh, Sakuno, our daughter has got good eyes, dontcha think?" he whispered to her. She merely nodded and fell asleep soon after.

"You'll go far with eyes like that. Won't you, Reiko?" he whispered to his daughter, his smile still plastered on his face.

**I hope you all will enjoy this story. For those of you who are curious Reiko means the daughter of Rei and one who is blessed with logic, and I've looked up the word Rei and it can mean LAW or SOUL, depending on the Kanji I do believe. Hence the name of series. Anyways I do not own any characters from the prince of tennis, they all belong to Takeshi Konomi.**

**~Defiance out**


	2. So we've arrived

**12 years later**

A girl stepped out of the terminal of an airport. The sounds of buses, airplanes and bustling people filled the air. She shielded her eyes as they adjusted to the light. She ran a hand through her brutally short black-green hair and sighed. She would never chew or touch gum ever again. She also vowed to never have kids; the stinking, little gum-chewers. She scowled.

"Do you need help young man?" asked an attendant who was standing nearby. She left out a heavy depressed sighed. Did she really look like a boy?

"Eh, I really should have worn more girly clothes," she muttered to herself in English. She kept on muttering and ignored the attendant. The poor attendant though spoke no English and was utterly confused. He knew that the child in front of him was speaking English but he had failed that class in high school. He racked his brain for possibly something that would help.

"Uh, Herroh," he spoke. Reiko stared at the man surprised; she had completely forgotten he was even there. Her memory was never good to her. However, when she looked up the attendant took this as a good sign. He smiled, thinking that this could work.

"Do…uh, yoh…um…" the attendant racked his brain for the words he needed. Reiko thought that he might have been mentally ill in some way with the way he was trying to speak. Who was this man again?

"Reiko! Please don't wander off by yourself! We're going to miss our bus if we don't hurry," a very flustered middle-aged woman said as she ran over to the girl. The woman had auburn hair and eyes to match. Reiko stared at her mother dumbfounded.

"Okaa-san, we're at the bus lane," Reiko stated as pointed at the obvious lanes of buses. Sakuno looked around clearly confused about where she was. By now the attendant thought that these people were crazy and started to slowly back up, he didn't want to attempt anymore English. Unfortunately for him Sakuno saw him and her eyes immediately lit up.

"Excuse me sir, could you please direct me to Bus 21?" she asked the man politely in Japanese. The attendant gave a breath of relief, finally someone he could understand. He was about to point her in the right direction when the young "boy" interjected.

"Uh, Okaasan, the ticket says 12, not 21," the "boy" said. However, the only thing the attendant understood was the word mother. It must have been something important because the mother began to look completely dejected and even more flustered.

"I'm sorry. I meant Bus 12," Sakuno corrected, highly embarrassed. The attendant however quickly told her where it was located so he could get away as soon as possible.

"Thank you very much," Sakuno said as she picked up her luggage, "come on Reiko-chan." She skipped over toward the bus, obviously over her previous embarrassment, but at the same time causing her pre-teen daughter to gain high doses of it.

"NEHH! Okaasan! Don't skip! You're not 7 years old!!" Reiko yelled at her mother, her face turned red. She quickly ran after her mother. The attendant was relieved to see them leave. He could finally go get that coffee…wait, 'Reiko-chan'? Wasn't that a girl's name? Poor boy, no wonder he wasn't right in the head, his mother had given him a girl's name. The attendant shook his head in disbelief and pity and walked away.

The two women finally got on the right bus after Sakuno went the wrong way. They plopped down in some empty seats in the back of the bus. Sakuno had a huge smile on her face. She was finally home after living in America for about 14 years. She glanced over at her daughter who looked slightly depressed.

"Don't worry Reiko, Japan will be fun," told the girl reassuringly. Reiko however was not worried over the move, but still moping over the fact that she had been called a boy.

"I'm not worried over that Okaasan," she said, still in English.

"Eh? Reiko, why are you still speaking in English?" her mother inquired. Reiko looked surprised and quite confused.

"I'm speaking in English?" she said slowly, as if to hear for herself what she was speaking. Her eyes widen as she realized that she was indeed speaking in English. Sakuno gave a small nervous laugh. Would her daughter be okay in Japan? Japan wasn't America and Tokyo wasn't New York. Maybe they shouldn't have made such an impromptu move...

"I'll be fine Okaasan," Reiko assured her mother (this time in Japanese). She could tell her mother was fretting over her again. Sakuno smiled, a little relieved. She could always believe her daughter, after all Reiko was just like…

"We're here," Reiko said standing up and grabbing her backpack. Startled, Sakuno once again became flustered and started to bump into people and stuttering apologies. Reiko rolled her eyes; her mother could become disoriented to easily. They stepped off the bus and walked a ways before they stood in front of a temple.

"You sure this is the place?" Reiko asked uncertainly. Her mother was never that great with directions.

"Yep! I used to come here often when I…I was in high school and college," she stuttered, glancing nervously at her daughter. She caught herself before she anything that would upset her daughter. Reiko though seemed to have not noticed the stutter or had simply just dismissed it. They walked up to the front door to the house in front of the temple and rang the doorbell. A few seconds later a woman with long blue-black hair who looked slightly older than Sakuno answered the door. She stared at the two women before squealing. Reiko flinched at the high pitch and was suddenly pulled into the most crushing hug she had ever had the displeasure of having.

"Sakuno-chan! Reiko-chan! You've finally arrived! Reiko-chan you've grown so much! You shouldn't drink so much milk; it'll make you a skyscraper. What happened to your hair? Are you slightly tanner? Why are you so skinny? How was your flight? Oh, I'm so happy you're here!" the lady rapidly fired out. Reiko was squeezed unpleasantly too tight by her Aunt, technically 2nd cousin, but Nanako had insisted that Reiko call her Aunt. Sakuno just laughed at the look of annoyance on her daughter's face, she looked to cute.

"Auntie, you're crushing me!" Reiko managed to groan. Nanako quickly released the perturbed girl ad apologized. She turned to Sakuno and the two hugged and immediately babbled away about whatever topic they wanted.

"Nanako-chan, are you going to invite our guest in or are you going to let them spend the night outside?" called a voice from behind Nanako. Rinko appeared at the doorway. Reiko bowed respectively to her grandmother.

"Ah, sorry Obasan, I got sidetracked," Nanako apologized. Rinko just gave her a motherly smile and motioned for them all to come inside.

"We weren't going to eat until you all arrived, but someone got hungry," Rinko said rather bitterly as they walked into the dining room to see the fable "Samurai" tennis player stuffing his face. Nanako and Rinko looked furious, while Sakuno laughed nervously. Reiko suppressed her urge to laugh; her Ojiisan was hilarious in her opinion. Nanjiro however stopped once he noticed that his wife and niece were not okay with the situation.

"Nanjiro Echizen you pig! You couldn't wait five more minutes?" Rinko yelled at her husband.

"Well, uh, you see Rinko, uh…" the Samurai was stuck in a rut, until he noticed his granddaughter, "Ah! Reiko-chan! How are you? You seem to have gotten taller!" His eyes pleaded with her to follow through. Reiko rolled her eyes and smirked and gave him the signal that he owed her. They had developed a system in which Reiko would save her lazy grandfather from his terrifying wife, with compensation of course. Reiko sat down at the table near her grandfather.

"Yes, I have indeed gotten taller, I've grown 4 centimeters since my last visit I believe," she answered his question casually. The plan worked perfectly, Rinko was immediately distracted by her beloved granddaughter's answer.

"Really? Four centimeters? My, my, you certainly will be tall at the rate you're growing," Rinko said as she sat down as well. The other two women also followed soon.

"Itadakimatsu," they all said before they began to eat. There were a few minutes of silence as they ate their first few bites. Reiko loved her grandmother's traditional Japanese cooking. She looked forward to it every time they came to Japan or when her grandparents came to New York.

"Reiko-chan, what happened to your hair? Please don't tell that's some kind of fashion in America," asked Rinko. Reiko swallowed the noodles she was currently devouring and sighed sadly.

"No, it's not a fad. Unfortunately my friend's younger sister put gum in my hair ad we had to cut it to get all of it out," Reiko said, she sighed again as she recalled the man at the airport calling her a boy.

"That's such a shame, you had such pretty hair. With it so short you almost look like your…" Sakuno immediately began to choke on her food and coughed loudly, drowning out Rinko's remaining words. After she stopped choking, she gave Rinko a looked that said sorry and a pleading. Rinko raised an eyebrow and gave Sakuno a slight nod, saying that she had gotten the message. Sakuno's eyes immediately became downcast. _'I see, so that's why,'_ Rinko thought. However, this entire "conversation" went unnoticed to Reiko, who just got embarrassed over her mother once more.

"So Reiko, which school will you be attending?" Rinko asked, covering up for not finishing her response.

"Seishun Gakuen," Reiko answered.

"Seishun Gakuen? That's where UMPH…"

"Honey, try this sushi, I made it just for you," Rinko said quickly as she shoved a rather large piece of sushi into Nanjiro's mouth before he finished his remarked. Reiko looked suspiciously at her grandparents before shrugging her shoulders and disregarding it completely. She finished the last of her meal and asked to be excused.

"Certainly dear, your room will be the second one on the left and if you want to take a bath that will be the one right across from your room," Rinko told her. Reiko nodded and was about to walk out when she stopped suddenly.

"Do you want something dear?" Rinko asked curiously. Reiko turned to face her grandmother with a face of complete seriousness.

"Do you have any milk?" she asked. Rinko looked slightly shocked but smiled motherly.

"Yes, there are bottles of it in the fridge just for you, also there are chocolate and strawberry syrups next to them," she answered still smiling. Reiko thanked her grandmother with a huge smile on her face and went to grab herself a bottle and went to her room.

"That girl drinks enough milk to keep a dairy farm in business just by herself," laughed Rinko.

"When I was buying all those bottles the salesman asked me if I was baking for a huge party or bake sale," laughed Nanako, "He nearly fainted when I told him this was all for one person." All the adults laughed with her.

"But any who," Rinko suddenly got serious, "Sakuno-chan, as much as I love seeing my granddaughter, I can't help but notice that this was a spontaneous trip and that my son is absent." Sakuno's eyes became downcast once more.

"It's not as bad as you might think," she said softly. She started gripping her hands.

"Are you and Ryoma fighting?" Rinko asked just softly.

"Oh! What? No, no, it's nothing like that!" Sakuno said hurriedly, "Ryoma and I are still very much in love." Her eyes soften into a loving glow, but then darkened once more as she continued.

"The same, unfortunately, can not be said for Reiko," Sakuno answered. Nanako and Nanjiro looked surprised, however Rinko looked the same.

"I thought as much, with the way you avoided talking of him," Rinko said, "I'm guessing that's why you came here, to let her cool down?" Sakuno nodded, tears now falling from her eyes. Rinko's eyes softened and Nanako comforted her.

"As much as I'd like to know the reason for why she has suddenly decided to hate her father, I think it's time we turn for the night. Nanako, could you please show Sakuno to her room before leaving?" Rinko asked. Nanako nodded and led a stilling crying Sakuno to her room. Rinko let out a heavy sigh. Nanjiro leaned back on one hand and put the other inside his yukata.

"It must have been something big, whatever happened. Last I knew, those two were practically inseparable," Nanjiro said. Rinko just nodded and moved to clean up.

When Reiko closed the door to her room she heard the adults laughing. She turned on the light to her temporary room. Just by glancing around she could already tell who had occupied this room previously. She scowled as she saw some of his old clothes in the closet, along with a box labeled as 'Ryoma's Stuff' in his own scribble. She dumped her stuff on the other side of the closet; she'd unpack in the morning.

She plopped down in the bed, immediately messing up the wrinkle-free sheets. She closed her eyes and tried to forget about what had happened. Unfortunately the images came crystal clear; the ball coming toward her, the searing pain in her wrist, the argument. She opened up her eyes and looked out the window. She could faintly see her reflection. Her cat-gold eyes stared back at her, his eyes. She really did look too much like him. Her eyes caught a glimpse of the box in the closet. Curiosity got the best of her.

She opened the box and saw few things. There were about four worn-out tennis balls and a racket. There was a hat and a bunch of pictures and magazines. She took the pictures and magazines out. Some of the magazines featured her grandfather, while others were about certain top-ranking schools. She noticed that the school that she was going to was listed quite a few times. Though she wasn't surprised, it is where _he_ went. She set the magazines aside and picked up the pictures. There weren't many, but most of them were of a team or of her mother. She looked at her mother through her middle and high school years; she looked so pretty and happy, especially in the ones with _him_ in them. She looked at the ones of the teams. She laughed at how short _he_ was compared to his teammates. She noticed the hat in the box was the same one in some of the pictures. She put them down, except one; it was from 12 years ago. She knew it was because _he_ was holding a baby in _his_ arm, namely her.

She carried to her bed and stared at it for awhile, until she heard someone coming by the door. She could hear them crying, her mother. Reiko sighed. She hadn't meant for this to happen. She glared at the picture.

"This is all your fault," she growled at it. She got up and turned the light out and plopped back down on the bed, the picture stowed safely under her pillow.

**Okay, so don't expect these chapters to come out back to back like this. I just had some inspiration. Well so yeah, hope you enjoy and please review! I do not own PoT!**

**~Defiance out**


	3. New Encounters, Old Memories

Reiko was thankful that her school uniform hadn't arrived yet, she had total jet lag the entire night. She yawned and picked up her cellphone that had fallen out of her pocket during the night. She checked the time, 12:23 in the afternoon. Yeah, she would have missed a half a day of school if she had gone today. She yawned again and stretched. She climbed out of bed and walked over to her suitcase; she pulled out her bathroom stuff and went to take a shower.

She walked into the dining area and smelled something good cooking. She saw her grandmother cooking something on the stove. When Rinko saw Reiko she nearly jumped out of her skin. With her hair so short, Reiko looked like lot her father and Rinko thought she was seeing ghosts. However she kept her composure and smiled at her still sleepy-eyed granddaughter.

"Good afternoon, sleepy-head," she said playfully.

"G-g-good afterno-oo-on, Obaasan," Reiko greeted, stifling a yawn. Rinko carefully suppressed a small giggle. Yes, the girl was a lot like her father. She handed the girl a bowl of some of the soup she had made. She bow and thanked her and quickly sat down to devour her lunch. Rinko poured herself a bowl and sat down across from Reiko. They ate silently until Rinko spoke up.

"Your uniform for Seigaku, as it turns out, they'd rather you pick it up," she informed the girl who was now on her third helping of soup. Reiko looked up from her bowl and set the bowl down; it was up against her face so she could easily get the last few drops.

"Alright, I can do that after I finish," she replied licking the excess soup from her lips, "this way I can also see what the school is like." Rinko just merely nodded as a reply. Reiko picked up her bowl and put it in the sink and put on her sneakers and jacket and walked out the door. Rinko was surprised when she came back in. she went straight to the fridge and grabbed a milk and put some chocolate syrup in it, before going back out.

"That girl will become a skyscraper," Rinko laughed before returning back to her soup.

Reiko walked at a very relaxed pace towards Seigaku. She already knew where it was, having been there before with her father during their vacations. She, unlike her mother, had an excellent since of direction. Her only weakness was her inability to remember people's faces and names. She took a sip of her milk; it was very refreshing on a hot day like today. She took off her jacket and tied it around her waist.

She reached the school after twenty or so minutes. The campus had a few kids scattered about the courtyard, the remains of their lunch beside them. She took a long sip before actually going inside the building. She got a few looks as she crossed the courtyard, but she jut ignored them. No point in starting something before she even attended the school.

She pushed open the door and saw more kids scattered everywhere. Japanese schools were really lenient about where you ate lunch apparently, in America kids usually had to stay in the cafeteria or the outside tables. She looked around for a door or sign that would lead her to the office.

"Do you need help?" said a voice from behind her. She turned around and saw a boy with reddish hair and black/gray eyes. His hair stuck up in a lot of places, making him appear as if he had just woken up. She stared at him from a minute or two, he looked awfully familiar. He gave her a curious look, she finally snapped out of it.

"Uh, yeah, I'm looking for the office," She answered him. Now the boy was staring. The kid in front of him talked and dressed like a girl, but looked so much more like a boy. He finally noticed that she was waiting for him to help her. His cheeks turned slightly pink from embarrassment and he mentally called himself stupid for staring.

"Um, right, the office. It's up the stairs and behind the first double doors. It'll be labeled so it you shouldn't miss it," he told her. Reiko nodded as a thank you and turned to go up the stairs.

"Ah wait," the boy said suddenly, Reiko turned back around, "you're not allowed to take food or drinks into the office." He gestured to the milk bottle that was only half-gone. She looked at the drink and then at the stairs and frowned. She looked up at the boy.

"But I can't just throw it away, that's wasteful," she complained. She had an agitated look. The boy understood about being wasteful, his dad would yell at him if he even left 3 pieces of rice on his plate. He wondered if this girl came fro a big family like him.

"If you want, I'll hold it for you until you get back," he offered. She scrutinized him, he shivered slightly, her cat-eyes were cool looking but creepy. She seemed to have deemed him reliable enough to hold her precious milk after he swore he wouldn't take one sip. Reiko quickly went up the stairs, wanting to get this over with so she could go exploring when everyone was in class. She reached the double doors and pushed them open and went up to a lady at the front desk. She quickly told her why she was there and she went into another room and handed her the uniform. Reiko thanked her and left the office to get back to her milk. She jumped over all of the stairs and landed on the bottom. She looked back up at the top; you gotta love those intense years of tennis training.

"Nya! That was awesome," said a familiar voice. Reiko turned and saw the boy that was holding her milk. He looked very impressed. She walked over to him.

"Thanks," she said, holding her hand out for the milk. He obliged and gave it to her. She inspected it before she took another sip. The boy noticed her girl's uniform, so she was a girl.

"So when are you starting?" he asked her. She looked up at him and took another sip before answering.

"Tomorrow," she replied curtly. She didn't dislike the guy; she just acted that way to anyone who she didn't know. The boy looked slightly taken aback by her terseness, but he just smiled again.

"My name is Kikumaru Etsuo, class 2-4," he said holding out his hand for her to shake. Reiko had to think before she introduced herself; it took her a minute to remember that the Japanese say their last names first.

"Echizen Reiko, I'll be in class 1-2," she replied and shook his hand, "nice to meet you Kikumaru-senpai." She quickly added that last part remembering Japanese etiquette. The boy's smile seemed to grow wider. A bell rang signaling the students that lunch was over. Etsuo groaned, he had to go to math, he hated math. Ryuuzaki-sensei was the toughest math teacher here and by far the oldest.

"Nya, I'll see you around, Reiko-chan," he said and he ruffled her hair. Reiko glared after him but he never turned around to see it. She shook her hair back into place and muttered to herself about manners toward girls. She walked back outside to the courtyard. She saw that it was only a little past 1:00 and decided to do some exploring. It didn't take her long to find the school's tennis courts. She remembered that she used to come here with _him, _back when she was still small. She saw that the gate was open and walked on to the court.

How long had it been since she had played or even entered on to one of these? Two, maybe three months. She sighed and sat down on the bench nearby, staring at the court. Memories flooded her brain as she recalled times here before.

"_Daddy, daddy, teach me to play! Teach me!" a younger and shorter Reiko demanded of her father. A smile stretched wide across her face. Ryoma bent down and picked his daughter up. On his face too, there laid a smile._

"_Reiko, do you know what your name means?" he asked her, she shook her head no, "Your name means to strive with all your soul, meaning anything you do you must put your entire being into it."_

"_I will, I will!" the young girl chirped happily. _

Reiko struggled to remember the rest of that time, but couldn't. It annoyed her, partially because she knew what _he_ had said after that was important. She stared out towards the court once more. She swung her foot slightly and felt it hit something. She looked under the bench and pulled out someone's lost racket. It was still in good condition so it hadn't been there long. She assumed that the person might have lost it during some kind of morning practice.

She got up off the bench and walked over to one side of the court. She pulled out a tennis ball from her jacket pocket. What could she say; she just always had to have one with her. She held the racket in her left hand then switched to her right. She bounced the ball a few times before she threw it in the air. As she watched the ball go up she thought about how long it had been since she had actually practiced, about 4 months, she supposed. The ball started to descend; it was like she could see it in slow-motion. There, the ball was in the right spot, she immediately brought the racket down to meet the ball. It sailed over the net and hit nicely on the opposite side's corner. She frowned though, she had gotten slower, or maybe it was the racket, it was heavier than her own.

She sighed and put the racket on top of the bench so that its owner could find it easily. She went and picked up the tennis ball and turned it in her hand. She took one last look at the court before leaving.

Unknown to Reiko, someone was watching her the entire time. Ryuuzaki Sumire watched her great-granddaughter make a very grand serve. Her father had taught her well. The only thing that disturbed her was that the girl was using her right hand, when she was actually left-handed. Granted her father did this often but that was only when he was playing. As Reiko left, Ryuuzaki glanced at her students who were currently taking a pop quiz, making sure they weren't cheating.

"Ikeda! You had better make that paper scrap disappear this instant!" she yelled at a startled boy who instantly put the scrap in the waste basket. She looked back out the window but saw that Reiko was already gone. She noticed a racket lying on the bench that wasn't there before. She sighed, well at least now she knew where Kaidoh's racket disappeared to. She turned back around.

"Kikumaru keep your eyes on your own paper or next time you're off the team," she yelled once more. Etsuo immediately put and kept his head down, close to his paper. He wasn't cheating, he was just curious as to what his coach was looking at.

When Reiko got back to the temple she went straight to her room and flopped down on her bed. As she did a certain picture fluttered out from her pillow and went underneath her bed where it would surely be forgotten. Reiko didn't notice any of this, her eyes were closed. She opened her eyes and went back over to the box. This time she took out the racket. It was fairly light, about the same weight as her's. She swung it a few times before a look of disgust crossed her face. She immediately threw the racket back into the box. She went to her own suitcase, took out her own racket and threw that into the box as well. If _he_ thought she wasn't playing with all her _soul _then she wouldn't play anymore.

**i really do type these too fast...anywho, so this is the third chapter. Now you've met one of the original's kids. I'll warn you now, thier sons will not be carbon copies of them. They'll be similar in playing styles but it will develop. And one other thing, I do like reviews if its not to much trouble, I mean really, i dont care if you say it sucks! Granted that's not mature nor is it constructive, so if you want to say that please have a liable reason. Well thats all for now. i do not own any original characters. **

**~Defiance out**


	4. Let's meet the team

Reiko cursed her alarm clock as it woke her the next day. She'll never be a morning person.

"Reiko, you might want to hurry up!" her grandmother called. She grumbled and put on her clashing uniform. The green was fine, but what was with the horribly bright pink bow? She quickly packed up all her supplies and went into the dining area. She really had no time to eat, her mother was prepared. She knew what her daughter was like, and had already made her bento for lunch and strawberry milk for breakfast. She handed these to Reiko as she nearly sprinted out the door.

"That girl will never change," she giggled. She returned to the dining area. Rinko was sitting there waiting for her. She looked slightly worried.

"Will she be okay?" she asked Sakuno. Sakuno looked back towards the door and smiled.

"If she's anything like her father, which I know she is, then yes, she'll be perfectly fine," she answered, knowing that if her daughter had heard those words she would be highly upset. Rinko smiled and nodded, relieved. She granddaughter was certainly going to do fine.

"Oishi-senpai, do we have to have practice everyday?" said a boy with striking purple eyes. The older boy he was talking gave a slightly exasperated look before answering.

"Yes Momoshiro-san, we have to have practice, especially if we want to go to nationals," Oishi answered with forced patience. His father said that he should be more considerate of his teammates and be patient with them. He constantly struggled with this; he didn't inherit his dad's ability to overlook blatant stupidity. The younger boy groaned in response.

"If we could just get Kawamura-senpai to join, I'm sure we'd get to Nationals easily," Momoshiro said.

"Kawamura-san is on the team, he just feels that his skills are used better as a manager than a regular," Oishi responded calmly. As much as he didn't want to agree with Momoshiro, he was right. He had seen Kawamura play before and steadfastly believed that he could easily become a regular. However, Kawamura Naoto always profusely refused to play as a regular. He always had the excuse that he wasn't good enough. It was a blatant lie though; ironic considering his name. For the next ranking match Fuji-buchou had come up with a way to make Kawamura play. The two of them reached the tennis courts with all the others already there.

"Ah, Momo-san and Oishi-san, we were waiting for you two," said light brown hair and light brown eyes to match. His smile was slightly disturbing, Oishi shivered. He had met Fuji-buchou's father and knew were he had learned that look.

"Both of you get 10 extra laps for making us wait," said a boy with messy brown hair. Momoshiro groaned loudly and got 10 more laps. Oishi kept back his scowl, Tezuka wasn't even captain but Fuji let him assign laps. The two of them were the best of friends and it seemed like they could each other's minds, however they both sucked when they played doubles with one another. They'd always bump into each other. He looked around for his own doubles partner. However, Kikumaru was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Etsuo-san?" he asked Fuji. Fuji also looked around, apparently not having noticed that the red-head was missing.

"Was he not with you and Momo-san?" he asked Oishi. Oishi shook his head no and gave a heavy sigh. His partner probably had gotten distracted by something. He heard someone approaching quickly from behind him.

"Nya! Oishi-senpai! Fuji-buchou! Sorry for taking so long!" Kikumaru shouted as he ran up to his teammates, clearly out of breath. Oishi saw Fuji's creeper smile return to his expression. He suddenly felt loads of pity for his doubles partner.

"Etsuo-san, you are 2 minutes late," Tezuka said from behind Fuji, "You know the rules, multiply your tardiness by 10 and run those laps now." Kikumaru looked severely downtrodden by the extra 20 laps he had to run. A slight hissing sound came from over by the bench. A boy with a look of an angry snake came up to Kikumaru. He put his face right up to the red-head's. Kikumaru backed up a bit and laughed nervously.

"Kikumaru-san, you bastard you hid my racket again this morning didn't you!" hissed the snake boy.

"K-Kaidoh-senpai, I have n-no idea what you're talking about," Kikumaru responded nervously. Kaidoh just hissed again and narrowed his eyes.

"Oi! Kaidoh-senpai! Your racket's under the bench!" yelled a another boy, this one had spiky black hair. He held up a yellow and green racket.

"See Kaidoh-senpai, it was just under the bench, it must have fallen under there this morning," Kikumaru said quickly. Kaidoh hissed one last time and stalked away, he grabbed his racket from the boy. Kikumaru had indeed taken Kaidoh's racket and hidden it under the bench that morning, but Kaidoh was just to fun to bother and he was such and easy target. Kikumaru walked over to the bench to prepare to run his laps with the rest of the team.

"Etsuo-san, why'd you hide Kaidoh's racket this time?" asked the boy with spiky hair. Kikumaru laughed.

"Because Inui-san, I didn't like what he ate for lunch yesterday," Kikumaru laughed. Inui sighed while Momo, who was also running with them, laughed along with Kikumaru. When they all finished their laps they paired up and began to practice their serves and volleys. The freshmen, of course, just ran around picking up stray balls. Kikumaru paired off with Momo since Oishi wanted Inui's help with some new serve or something. He didn't really care, he just wanted to play.

"Prepare yourself Etsuo-san; this is my new serve that I'm saving for the Tokyo Tournament. It's guaranteed to win me all my service games," Momo bragged. Kikumaru just rolled his eyes, all Momo did was brag.

"Just serve already Momo-chan!" whined Kikumaru. Momo looked slightly annoyed but took his stance. He threw the ball in the air and waited till it got relatively low before hitting it. He had both hands on the grip, to give it more power.

"Face the fury of my Cannon Serve!" Momo yelled as the ball hit the gut of his racket. Kikumaru, not wanting a broken nose ducked, but the ball took a different trajectory. It flew threw the open gate of the courts and sailed towards a student nearby.

"Oh, way to go Momo-chan!" yelled Kikumaru as he and Momo ran towards the unsuspecting student.

Reiko could sum up her day in one word, mediocre, actually more like dreary. She was heading home now after her last class, which was Japanese Grammar. She sighed, she disliked the fact that both of her parents had neglected to teach her how to write in Japanese properly. She knew the basics, but then again so did grade schoolers and she was not a grade schooler. She briefly noticed as she passed by the tennis courts. She glanced and saw a bunch of them in some fancy uniform; she assumed they were the all too famous 'regulars'. She scowled, _he _had been a regular, she had seen it in the pictures.

She felt something approach her, she quickly raised her hand to catch or stop whatever was coming. She caught it but didn't look at it right away. It felt small, fuzzy and round. She looked at her hand and saw…a tennis ball? She was utterly confused.

"Whoa! That was an awesome catch!" yelled a voice from behind her. Reiko turned to see a boy with red hair and another with dark, almost black, brown hair. They were running towards her. They were also wearing the fancy uniforms, so they were regulars. She scowled once more; however the two boys looked unfazed but more impressed with her catch. She threw them the ball and the red-head easily caught it. He looked at her then a look realization passed through his eyes.

"Ah! It's you Reiko-chan!" he nearly squealed in excitement. Momo looked confused. The girl looked awfully familiar…

"I'm sorry do I know you?" asked Reiko. She was surprised that the boy knew her name. She had no idea who he was; was he in one her classes? But he couldn't be, freshman weren't typically made regulars. But then again hadn't _he _been a freshman…

"Wha! How could you forget me? I met you just yesterday!" Kikumaru cried. Momo was nearly doubling over with laughter. He didn't know who this chick was, but he already liked her.

Reiko however was still trying to remember who this red-head was. She inwardly cursed her bad memory. She tried to remember what she did yesterday when she was hear. She did that one serve and left…well obviously it wasn't then. She thought back to the office, he wasn't there either, but neither was her bottle of milk. That's why she was in a hurry, to get her drink back from…it finally clicked in her brain.

"Ah! You're that guy that held my milk for me!" she stated triumphantly. For her this was quite an accomplishment. Normally she would just ignore the person and wipe them completely away from her mind. But she had decided yesterday that she would become a 'better' person. Unfortunately for Reiko, all that accomplished was remembering people's names, which wasn't going so well.

Her only remembering that he held her milk was not helping his spirit. Was he so forgettable? Something you should know about Kikumaru Etsuo was that he had this weird idea in his head that he needed to know everyone, in which case his excellent memory came in handy.

"By the way, how did a tennis ball almost come to hit me?" she asked them. With Kikumaru out of commission due to lack of attention, Momo had to answer. He smiled with a cocky smile.

"I served it and it had so much power that it made it all the way out here," he said still cocky. Reiko gave him an incredulous look.

"Then you must have some strength to get it this far," as she said this Momo just glowed brighter, "but my intuition tells me that it was not meant to even go this way." Momo's light went out completely as Kikumaru's flickered back on as he stifled a laugh. Momo sniffed and crossed his, who was this girl to tell him off?

"Was it a one- handed or two-handed serve?" she asked. So this chick knew an inkling about tennis Momo thought as he glared at her.

"I used both hands," he answered. Kikumaru listened in, curious as to what Reiko was going to say.

"Are you right or left handed?" she asked, keeping the same indifferent tone she always seemed to have.

"Right," Momo answered with curiosity in his voice now. Where could this freshman be going with these questions?

"Did you put your hands like this," she put her right fist on top of her left, "or like this?" she put left on top of the right. Momo had to think a minute before answering, he showed her by putting his left on top his right.

"Ah, see there's your problem. You're letting your dominant hand be dominated. Whenever you hit or serve with two hands, you should always put your dominant on top. If you don't you're not stretching or flexing the muscles enough and your left arm is the guiding your hit. Which is why I believe it came out all this way,' she explained to Momo. The two boys stood there shocked at the girl's response. It sounded so much like something coach or Fuji or Tezuka would say.

"Eh, does Reiko-chan play tennis?" asked Kikumaru. Reiko stiffened and scowled once more.

"No," she responded rigidly. Her light hazel eyes narrowed warningly toward Kikumaru. He ignored this however and went on.

"Do you watch matches or something?" he asked.

"No," she lied once more, just as rigid. Something told Kikumaru that she was lying. Something about the way she fiddle with her what was left her bangs, like she was used to adjusting a headband or a hat.

"Do your parents play?" he pestered. She stopped fiddling with her hair and put her hand down by her side, which was now clenched into a fist. She had the appearance of a very agitated cat when she looked up at Kikumaru. Momo slightly shuddered at that look. Why did she look so familiar?

"No, now if senpai is done with asking such foolish questions, I'd like to be own my way now," she replied as politely as she could, she even used proper language. Kikumaru was still not fazed, his little siblings were worse. He gave her a look of disbelief, but remembered that he and Momo had to get back to practice.

"Fine, I'll stop," he said, giving up. Reiko seemed to relax a little. She bowed to her senpai.

"I'll be going then, though, um," she slightly turned pink, Kikumaru tilted his head a little, "Can senpai tell me his name again, I, uh, can't remember it." She looked peeved, like she had just torn away a little part of her pride. Kikumaru just laughed, his kouhai was in no way that attractive, but she had her own way of cuteness. Reiko scowled for what felt like the 100th time that day.

"It's Kikumaru Etsuo, got that? Ki-ku-ma-ru E-tsu-o," he told her pronouncing each character.

"And I'm Momoshiro Hideo but you can call me Momo-chan," Momo said jumping into the conversation, "and thanks for the tip!" Reiko nodded, smiling.

"It's nice to meet you Momo-chan," she replied, she felt awkward calling a senpai that, but she felt that Momo-chan would be easier to remember than Momoshiro.

"And just call me Etsuo-san alright," Kikumaru told her with a wide smile. Reiko though, wanting to get back at him for all those annoying questions simply smiled defiantly.

"Senpai shall be called Kikumaru-san or Kikumaru-senpai for the rest of his life," she airily informed him. Kikumaru frowned slightly; he didn't like being called by his last name; it made him feel old. She nodded her goodbye and turned around to continue on home. The two boys headed back toward the courts to continue practicing.

"Hey, that freshman was right, I do better with my right on top," Momo exclaimed. Kikumaru just huffed. He was slightly disgruntled from the freshman calling him senpai and on top of that she had told Momo had to actually hit that damn serve. It had knocked the racket out of his hand each time and would most certainly put a hole in his gut at this rate. Momo could tell Kikumaru was irritated and thought it was good for the happy-go-lucky airhead to be pulled down to everyone else's level once in awhile.

**OK so like FYI thses chapters are written at like 2 in the morning cause that when my wierd muse decides to show up, so thats why i'm able to get these out fast. i'm fairly surprised at myself for getting them written so fast. Anyways thank you to those that reviewed and to those that didnt please try to. If I can write a 3000 word chapter at 2 in the morning, you can probably take 10 seconds to write a 5 worded review. I really do enjoy them. Also if any are curious as to what the names mean please ask in a review (haha, i'll make you!) and i'll be glad to tell you.**

**~Defiance Out**


	5. Who are you?

When Reiko got home she was immediately barraged with questions about her first day. She had half the mind to just walk back outside and close the door on her mother, aunt and grandmother's faces. Unfortunately that plan was terminated when they tugged her inside. She heard the click and saw the flash of a camera.

"Auntie, please stop taking pictures," she said with an agitated tone. Nanako ignored her and just took more pictures. She became more annoyed.

"Oi! Whatever's on the stove is burning!" called Nanjiro for the kitchen. Rinko freaked and ran towards the kitchen with such speed that one would think she's part cheetah. Nanako went to go help, so Reiko was left with her mother still in the front entrance.

"So how was your first day? Did you make any friends?" Sakuno inquired. She tried hard to hide her slight tremble, but Reiko saw it anyways. She sighed, her mother was way too anxious.

"The day was mediocre, not much really happened. There were some girls that talked to me during lunch but they seemed kind of…I dunno, boring?" Reiko answered honestly. She wasn't about to lie, she really wasn't much of a liar. Sakuno tremble became more pronounced. Maybe this move was a bad idea…

"Ah, but I did talk to a couple of people on the tennis team," Reiko suddenly recalled. Sakuno's eyes lit up; tennis, tennis was a good thing.

"Were they nice?" Sakuno asked trying to save her sanity.

"Eh, I guess? Um, well one was annoying while the other seemed fine," she replied, thinking of the pestering red-head. She still felt like she had seen him from somewhere…

"Oh, well that's good?" Sakuno's statement sounded more like a question. Her daughter's tone was hard to read, at least for her it was. She wished Ryoma was here, he understood Reiko better than she did, but then again they wouldn't be having this problem if that was still true.

"Sakuno, could you come here please and help me?" Rinko called from the kitchen. The smell of burnt fish filled the air, it made Reiko realize how hungry she was. Sakuno left her daughter to join her mother-in-law in the kitchen to help with the current food malfunction. Reiko went into her room to change out of her uniform. She decided against going into the kitchen, she was never good at cooking or anything like that.

"Not going to try to help?" asked her grandfather as he stood in her doorway. She looked up from her textbook to look at him.

"I'm no good in a food crisis, I can't cook," she responded. Nanjiro laughed loudly and tossed her a bottle of milk. She caught it and gratefully thanked him. Nanjiro seemed to be able to understand his granddaughter just like his son, though certainly not as well.

"What kind of girl are you, not knowing how to cook?" he teased. Reiko glowered at him as she took a sip from her milk. Nanjiro laughed some more, she looked so much like Ryoma did when he did that. She really needed to grow her hair out faster.

"Nanjiro! What a rude thing to say!" his wife asserted. She smacked the back of his head. He cried a very rude word which earned him another smack.

"Watch your language!" she told him. She turned to face Reiko. "Reiko-chan, would be kind enough to go to the store and buy me some groceries for dinner? It seems I burnt most of it." her grandmother gave her a pleading look and Reiko nodded as she hopped off her bed. She grabbed her jacket and was handed some money and a list of goods they needed.

Reiko walked in a fast pace, she wanted to get the food quickly so that her grandmother could make supper. She finally reached the store; she grabbed a basket, deciding that she wouldn't need cart. It took her a few moments to find the ingredients because she really hadn't been shopping here before. She went up to the nearest register.

In front of her were a bunch of boys that looked slightly older than her. They had what seemed like racket cases and were buying sports drinks. One of them was pointing and talking rather loudly about a magazine in his hand.

"So it seems his wife and kid left him," said the one with the magazine. Reiko groaned, did boys in Japan really care about celebrities and gossip?

"Well I guess he's got to find some way to fill the time," said the one closest to her. Reiko just rolled her eyes, this was taking forever.

"But you got to give him credit, winning the tournament after being retired for like 7 years," said the one farthest from her. She now became interested, this didn't sound like a celebrity.

"Yeah, I heard that he's already got back all his old sponsors for it," said the one closest to her. They had to be taking about some sports figure.

"It makes sense doesn't it? I mean he was like the youngest to win that same tournament on his first time and during his debut," said the one with the magazine.

"True, I'd have to say that he is probably the best tennis player all around," the one farthest said. Tennis, so it was a tennis player? The boys were finally up at the register and paying for their things.

"He may not be good with people, but he sure knows how to bounce back, that Echizen Ryoma." Reiko didn't remember who said, in fact after that she didn't even remember how she got home. When she did her mother automatically rushed over to her thinking something had happened to her. She shrugged her mother off and handed her grandmother the food and went to her room.

She looked for the picture she had stored under her pillow but couldn't find it. She cursed the picture. She went back over to the box and grabbed the closest picture with _him_ in it. It was the one of the old regular's team. She glowered at _him._ Wearing that stupid cap and smiling with that cocky smile that he always seemed to have. What right did _he _have to go back to the pros? Who did _he _think he was; breaking their promise? She grit her teeth and was about to rip the picture into shreds when she noticed the other members.

Reiko spotted a boy with red hair and black eyes and another boy with purple eyes. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Her senpai-tachi couldn't be…what are the chances…it was too much of a coincidence. However even Reiko couldn't deny that Momo-chan and Kikumaru-senpai looked a lot like the boys in the picture. Even the small details looked alike, though Momo-chan had dark brown hair, whereas this purple eyed boy had pure black. Also this red-head had much sharper features than Kikumaru-san. Even so, Reiko couldn't deny the striking similarities between the boys.

"Reiko-chan," he mother said softly as she knocked on the door. Reiko tore her eyes from the picture and saw that her mother looked on the verge of tears. Her mother seemed a great deal more emotional than usual. Maybe it was the Japanese water…

"Reiko-chan are you okay?" Sakuno asked unsure of even herself. Reiko's eyes seemed to soften. She hated making her mother cry.

"I'm fine mother," Sakuno still looked worried, "I'm fine, trust me." Sakuno calmed down. She seemed more emotional these days, her mother-in-law also noticed it. Maybe it was the water…she noticed the picture in her daughter's hands.

"I see you found your…some pictures," she said, choosing her words carefully. She walked over to Reiko and stood next to her and also looked at the picture. Reiko saw this as her chance; surely her mother would know these people too.

"Can you tell me who these people are?" she asked, trying to sound casual. Sakuno didn't notice anything strange in her daughter's voice and just smiled and began to point out people.

"The tall one with the glasses in the back, that's Tezuka Kunimitsu, he was the captain, I think he still plays,' said her mother. Reiko nodded; she had heard of Tezuka, he started his debut in Germany.

"Standing next him is Vice Captain Oishi Shuichiro, he always so nice and next to him is Fuji Shusuke, he was amazing, I wonder if he still plays?" Sakuno recalled. Reiko's eyes widen; both Fuji and Tezuka played at Seigaku? They were both big names in the tennis pro league. _He_ had played with some of the biggest players of their generation?!

"Near him are Takashi Kawamura and Sadaharu Inui, and next to them…"

"What you don't mean Kawamura of Kawamura's Sushi, the biggest and best sushi-making company in Japan? And Inui of Inui Health Foods? The company that makes all those super drinks?" Reiko asked incredulously. How could this be possible?

"I believe so; didn't you ever wonder why we always got free sushi from there?" Sakuno stated, she thought Ryoma would have least told Reiko about his former teammates.

"I-I, uh, never mind," Reiko stuttered. She felt herself turning pink, she had always thought it was cause Kawamura's and Inui's were _his_ two biggest sponsors, but then again weren't they also Fuji's and Tezuka's as well. It's like pieces of a puzzle were coming together when she didn't even think that they even existed.

"Alright," Sakuno continued with her recollection, "the one that looks really scary and like a snake is Kaidoh Kaoru, I think he runs a training facility now." Reiko nodded, Snake Trap was a big training camp for tennis players who wanted to debut as soon as they could. Who knew _he'd_ be this well connected?

"And the one with red hair," Reiko held her breath, the moment of truth, "is Kikumaru Eiji."

"WHAT?!" Reiko yelled. That's why the Kikumaru-senpai looked so familiar, she had seen his father play doubles on the T.V., and now that she look closely, the Oishi in this picture looked like his partner. By now Reiko was completely exasperated. How could they all possibly know each other?

"Um, are you okay Reiko-chan?" Sakuno asked. Her daughter was acting awfully strange, surely Ryoma had told her something. By the looks of it, he hadn't.

"Yes, yes, Okaasan, I'm fine," she sighed. She couldn't take much more of this.

"Alright, the purple-eyed one is Momoshiro Takeshi; he's still the co-owner of Snake Trap I believe. It's funny that those two started that business together, they seemed to hate one another," Sakuno recalled.

"Sakuno-san! Could you please come and help?" Rinko called from the kitchen.

"Yes! I'll be right there," Sakuno called back, "Well there you go, all the people in that picture." But to Sakuno, it wasn't all the people; she had left out the most important one. She went and left Reiko in the room, completely oblivious to the dark aura around her daughter.

By now Reiko looked like a soulless shell. Her hand trembled. Not only were those boys most defiantly related to the ones in the picture, but all of the ones in picture had amounted to great things. And they had all known _him_. Fate had a cruel way of punishing her. She used the word she had just learned from her grandfather. Thankfully her grandmother wasn't around to hear and smack her. She silently swore to herself that she would deny fate and never go near the tennis courts again and never speak to those two again. She wasn't going to risk it.

"Man, Coach Ryuzaki was ruthless today," Kikumaru said as he stretched his tired and overworked arms. He was walking home after practice with Momo.

"Yeah, but she was impressed that I nailed my Cannon Serve," Momo said shining with pride. Kikumaru gave him an agitated look.

"If that freshman hadn't corrected your hands you would have never known," Kikumaru accused. He was still cross about that whole ordeal. Momo kept his shining pride.

"You're just upset because she won't fall for your stupid, friendly charm," Momo accused right back.

"Whatever," Kikumaru huffed and turned away from Momo. So what if one loser freshman was being unfriendly. She wasn't that important, or cute. What girl cuts her hair so short that she looks like a guy?

"What was her name again?" Momo asked, he was going to ask her for more tips. Today was the first day he actually won all his service games against a regular.

"I don't know, Reiko something," Kikumaru lied. He always remembered people's names. What was the point of remembering this rude kouhai?

"I know your lying Etsuo-san," Momo stated bluntly.

"So? Why are you so interested in her anyway? She's not even that cute," he interrogated.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Etsuo-san. Besides that's not it any way. I just want to know her name. it's rude not to know," Momo explained.

"Tell that to her…"

"Etsuo-san!"

"Fine, fine, her name is Echizen, Echizen Reiko," Kikumaru finally gave in. he noticed that Momo had stopped. He looked inquiringly back at him.

"Did you say Echizen?" Momo asked rather shakily.

"Yeah, why? What's so important?" Kikumaru asked innocently. Momo looked at him incredulously, could Kikumaru be so dim?

"Etsuo-san, you IDIOT!" Momo yelled at the red-head who was now cowering, "Echizen! As in Echizen Ryoma! Surely you remember that name! As in the man that won so many tournaments while he was still a rookie! As in the son of the Samurai Nanjiro Echizen! As in the guy that played with our dads when they won the National Tournament! That Echizen! No wonder she looked so familiar!" By now Kikumaru felt slightly stupid, more like ridiculously retarded, for not putting two and two together.

"It could be another Echizen…" he tried to defend, but even he knew it was pointless. Momo glared at him.

"How many Echizen do you know?" he asked, but sounded more like an accusation.

"Alright, alright, so she's more than likely his daughter, so what?" Kikumaru replied.

"So, it means she's gotta be awesome at tennis!" Momo said. he thought he was making his point obvious. However, Kikumaru was dense.

"So what if she is? She'll be on the girl's team, what does it matter if she's good…unless, you couldn't possibly think, no way!" He saw the look on Momo's face. "Dude, she a chick! She can't be on the boy's team!"

"I think that's the coach's choice, and if I have my sources correct, which I do think they are, Coach Ryuzaki is her great-grandmother," Momo exclaimed. He was excited, if that girl was an Echizen she had to be great.

"There's no way, a girl doesn't have what it takes to be on the boy's team," Kikumaru retorted, but Momo was oblivious to everything he was saying. Fine if Momo wanted proof that that girl couldn't keep up with the boys he'd prove. The Echizens lived in America for awhile right? So if the girl did play tennis and she was good then she'd have to be known. To the Internet! Just wait Echizen Reiko, we'll see whose great.

Reiko sneezed twice while she was about to eat dinner. She sniffled a little.

"Oh dear! Are you catching a cold?" her grandmother asked worriedly.

"Nah, she sneezed twice, that means someone's talking bad about her," Nanjiro said. Reiko just shrugged, she didn't know anyone here that would talk bad of her.

**So here ya go, review please, i own nothing bith the OCs and plots!**

**~Defiance out**


	6. Arigatou Osekkaisan

Reiko had been able to avoid the tennis courts and those two boys for a week now. It took a lot of work as well. It seemed like wherever she went Momo-chan or Kikumaru-senpai were there. It almost seemed like they were looking for her, but that made no sense. Why would her senpai seek her out?

"Hey, Reiko-chan, do you mind if I eat lunch with you?" asked a rather petite girl. Her smile so warm and friendly that Reiko couldn't possibly resist. She nodded and moved her bento over a little on her desk to make room for the other girl. Reiko dug deep into her mind to remember the girl's name, she came up with Akimi.

"Reiko-chan, where did you live before you came here?" Akimi asked politely. She smiled that charming smile once more. It seemed friendly, but at the same time it had devious undertones.

"I've lived in America since I was born," Reiko answered carefully. She still wasn't sure of this girl.

"Ah, I see so moving to Japan must have been quite the culture shock," Akimi responded, still with extreme politeness.

"Well, not really, I've been here before, but usually on vacation," Reiko replied. She got the feeling that Akimi had some ulterior motives to having lunch with her.

"That's good, have you looked into any clubs that you would like to join?" Akimi asked. The smile was still there, it was beginning to creep Reiko out.

"Not yet, I'm still trying to get settled in," Reiko said. It almost seemed like she was playing a mental game of tennis with this girl, and Akimi was hitting it nice and easy, waiting for the right moment.

"Well surely a club could help you with that, it helps you make friends. If not a club, then I'm sure a sport would be fine. Do you play a sport Reiko-chan?" Akimi asked. If it wasn't for Reiko's advanced senses she might not have picked up on Akimi's heightened tone, but she did, the girl was going to make her move.

"I don't play anything I'm really fond of," Reiko replied, she wasn't being completely dishonest.

"But surely you play some sport, you have such well-built muscles," Akimi said, the politeness came back. Reiko's eyes narrowed, she finally knew this girl's motive. Whatever sport this girl wanted her to join was one that she wasn't going to play. She was going to call Akimi out when another girl came up to them.

"Uh, excuse me Echizen-chan, you have a visitor," the girl said. Reiko didn't even bother to remember the girl's name. She stood up quickly with her chopsticks and bento still in hand.

"I'm sorry but I have to se to this," Reiko said to Akimi with the same amount of politeness that the girl had been previously feeding her. Akimi looked slightly agitated and disappointed, but just nodded. Reiko walked over to the door.

Kikumaru sighed. After he had gotten home a week ago he had immediately went online and looked up Echizen Reiko. She was indeed Echizen Ryoma's daughter as Momo had said. She also could play tennis, not only that but she was extremely good at it. She had always played against people at least 2 years older than her. She always won her tournaments that she entered. As it turns out Echizen Ryoma had retired and 5 months later Reiko debuted in the junior leagues. Kikumaru guessed that he retired so that he could teach her how to play.

What bothered him though was the last tournament that she played. It was a big league invitational, for boys. It seemed that Reiko had played against quite a few boys and beaten them and then ha been invited to this tournament. She had won, but then quit playing right after that. She was signed up for a tournament the next day but never played. After that thing only thing he could find was an article about how Echizen Ryoma had reentered the pro league and that his wife and daughter were no longer living with him. This bothered him a lot.

He wanted to ask Reiko about it but every time he got near her she seemed to disappear. He got the feeling that she was avoiding him, which got him more agitated. He was using his last resort. She had told him what class she was in and he decided enough was enough. He walked down to her classroom and was going to ask for her. He felt ridiculous, calling on a girl he didn't even like. He sighed once more and looked up at the signs. He had reached the class. He spotted a group of girls outside the class. He turned on his charm and walked up to them.

"Excuse me," he said politely to the girls. They looked up at him and they all blushed. His smile grew, now these freshmen were cute, unlike Echizen.

"May we help you senpai?" one asked him. He looked at her, her pink blush became red. This was almost too easy.

"Yes, are you in this class?" he asked her. She gulped and just nodded. This senpai was cute.

"Good, tell me do you know an Echizen Reiko?" he asked. The girl looked a little disappointed.

"Yes senpai, would you like me to get her for you?" she asked him, the disappointment still there.

"What's your name?" he asked her. She looked a little taken aback but answered him nonetheless.

"Watari Aoi," she answered. His smile grew once more.

"It would a big help to me if you could get her for me, Aoi-chan," he added with undeniable cuteness. The girl just bowed her head to hide her now tomato red blush. This senpai was so charming and cute. Her friends looked extremely jealous and love-struck. She returned a few seconds with Reiko right behind her. When Reiko saw her eyes widen then narrowed. He just smiled and tanked the girls then pulled on Reiko's arm and dragged her to a more secluded area.

"What do you want?" she asked agitatedly when they had stopped. They were off in a small landing. He rolled his eyes.

"Are you just naturally rude?" he asked sarcastically. She just glowered at him. He shrugged it off. "Fine, I just have a few questions…"

"Nosy," Reiko half muttered, half snorted. Why was he so damn nosy? Kikumaru grit his teeth, only this girl could get under his skin.

"At least I don't lie to my senpai, Echizen-san," he sad with venom.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him rather sincerely. He couldn't have possibly known..,

"How many Echizens do you think there are in the world? Especially ones that aren't related to Echizen Ryoma," was his answer. Her eyes widen once more.

"You-you-you SNOOP!" she accused him. She pointed her chopsticks at his chest. "Who do you think you are peeking into my life?"

"I hardly think looking up one of the greatest tennis players of all time on Google qualifies as snooping. It's not my fault your name popped up," he defended. Sure he was lying, but she had lied to him first. She clenched her fist tighter around her bento.

"What did you find out?" she asked him calmly even though her hands where shaking. He smiled; things were finally going his way.

"I know that you play tennis, and that you happen to be good at it," she snorted, he continued, "I also know that you stopped playing around 5 months ago," she stiffened a little, "And that your mom and you left your father and came here to Japan." When he finished, Reiko seemed stiff as a statue. He waited for her to respond.

"So I see you went all out, didn't leave out any details, did you senpai?" she responded not looking at him.

"I still have questions though," he said.

"Of course," she said, "but just so you know, I'm not willing to tell snoops everything." He just nodded.

"Why'd you quit?" he asked.

"It wasn't _fun _anymore, I couldn't put my _soul_ into it," she said. She stressed certain words with venom. Kikumaru didn't get any of it but assumed that was all he was going to get from that question.

"Why'd you come here without your father?" he asked. She stiffened once more. She looked up at him without raising her head, but through her bangs. It was that look that gave him the chills.

"I'm but that's not something I can tell you," she answered straightforwardly. This made Kikumaru's curiosity grow and he wasn't about to let this one go.

"Are your parents fight?" he asked.

"As if, that stupid Okaasan is still deeply in love with _him_," there was that venom again.

"Ah, I see, so it's because of you," she glowered at him again, "and your okay with that?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" she snapped. Was she so dense?

"So you're completely okay with tearing your mother away from the man you know she's deeply in love with?" he stated bluntly. Reiko was so stunned and numbed by this that she nearly dropped her bento. She blinked a couple of times. She had never thought of it like that. She suddenly felt an ache in her heart. She leaned up against the wall and slide down to sit. She turned her head to stare at the wall.

"It-it-it wasn't my fault," she whispered. Kikumaru almost didn't hear her. He went and sat down next to her.

"Whatever you say," he replied. That sat in silence for a while. Reiko felt horrible. How could she have completely forgotten her mother? Maybe that's why her mother seemed so emotional lately. Damn this boy for saying those things. She felt tears coming when she heard a small grumbling sound. She looked over at Kikumaru with surprised. He tried to keep his composure but his stomach gave him away again. He hung his and put a hand on his stomach. He had completely forgotten to pack a lunch. He felt something in front of him. He looked up.

Reiko's half-eaten bento was in front of him. He looked over her with surprised. She looked slightly embarrassed, but over all seemed sincere.

"Just take it already," she snapped. He took it and her chopsticks but still looked incredulous.

"Why?" he asked, he was using all his willpower to not devour the delicious meal he was now holding.

"Snoop-san plays tennis right? So you need to eat to have strength and energy," she answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Itadakimatsu," he said before he dug in. Reiko just nodded. When Kikumaru was done inhaling the food he looked up at Reiko once more.

"I've got one more question," he said. Reiko raised an eyebrow, but said nothing to stop him.

"Why's your hair so short?" he asked seriously. Reiko looked taken aback but regained composure.

"Stinking gum-chewing children," she answered back with the same amount of seriousness. He nodded as if he completely understood. The two of them sat there looking at each other for awhile. They both started to bust out with laughter. Their laughs echoed through the stairs. They sat there for the rest of the lunch period laughing. Reiko wiped off a tear that had formed. She looked over at Kikumaru who was still chuckling. Maybe he wasn't so bad.

"Here you go Shounen-chan," he said as he handed her, her bento box back. She took it and then realized something.

"I'm a girl," she said. He smirked and looked down at her.

"I know," he replied and walked off, "See you around Shounen-chan." Reiko rolled her eyes; he must think he's so cool.

"Whatever Snoop-senpai," she called back to him. She turned and went up the stairs with a small smile. Reiko hadn't realized it yet, but she had just made her first true friend in Japan.

Kikumaru was practically attacked by Momo when he walked out to the courts for practice.

"Hey, Etsuo-san, you'll never guess what I was able to do!" Momo said with a huge smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'll never guess, so just tell me," Kikumaru said rather bored. Momo was slightly disappointed from the lack of reaction from the red-head.

"Geez, you're no fun today, what happened?" Momo asked.

"Nothing, now just tell me," he said as he shrugged Momo off his back. He wasn't about to tell Momo about how he went and bombarded Reiko with personal questions.

"Fine, this should make you chipper," Momo said, Kikumaru looked at him disbelievingly, "I was able to convince Coach Ryuuzaki and Fuji-bochou to let girls play in the next ranking match!" Momo looked proud of himself. Kikumaru stopped in his tracks.

"You did WHAT!?" he yelled.

**So heres the next chapter, do enjoy. Please reveiw. i own only OCs and plot.**

**~Defiance out**


	7. The Plan

"Ah, Reiko-chan! Your great-grandmother wants you to stay after school with her!" Sakuno quickly called to her daughter. Reiko paused in mid-step and faced her mother. She had a piece of toast hanging form her mouth and a confused look.

"Wah da ovan wah o see meh?" Reiko mumbled through the toast. Sakuno sighed.

"Reiko-chan, please don't talk with you mouth full," Sakuno told her. Why was her daughter so…so un-girly? Was that eve a word? Reiko removed the toast from her mouth.

"Why does Obaachan want to see me?" she asked. She still didn't like calling her oldest grandmother –chan, while she called her actual one –san, but Ryuuzaki had insisted on it.

"Well she hasn't seen you since our last visit so I'm sure it has nothing to do with wanting to see her only great-granddaughter," Sakuno snapped. Reiko was taken by surprise; her mother was really acting strange. She had even been eating more than usual. What was going on? Could have really just been missing her husband? Reiko swore that she would never get married if that's what happened to a woman.

"Alright, I'll go talk to Obaachan," Reiko said carefully. Sakuno just huffed and ripped off a piece of toast like a lion to a gazelle. Reiko left quickly, not wanting to have the same fate as the innocent toast. Sakuno glared at the door and then at her mother-in-law as she entered.

"Did Reiko-chan leave?" Rinko asked. Sakuno glared at her too, she didn't like this at all. She didn't like this plan. Rinko was unfazed by Sakuno's glare; she had raised Ryoma after all.

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all," Sakuno voiced her thoughts. Rinko just smiled.

"Would you rather give up on her passion?" Rinko said, "You heard what she said last night. Sakuno thought back to last night's dinner.

**LAST NIGHT**

"So Reiko-chan, how's school so far?" Sakuno asked her daughter. Reiko was playing around with her food. Her mind was still heavy from her talk with Kikumaru. She sighed.

"Its fine I suppose," she answered indifferently. She played around with the fish and seaweed on her plate. She had already arranged her vegetables in the shape of a cityscape. What could she say? She had an artistic side.

"Have you made many friends?" Rinko asked. Reiko looked up at all of them. They looked so hopeful, so expectant. She hated to disappoint them. Things were just different now.

"Not really," she answered. Akimi-chan was creepy and Snoop-san was, well a snoop. Sakuno began to worry once more. She reached for thirds of everything she had just eaten.

"No one seems friendly; no one has the same interests as you?" Rinko inquired. Reiko knew were this conversation was going. She hadn't exactly told her mother or grandparents that she had given up on tennis. Maybe they'd take it lightly? She doubted it. She put down her chopsticks.

"Not really," was her response once more. Her grandfather paused in the middle of stuffing his face and swallowed it all in one gulp.

"Seigaku is full of tennis players, surely you can find one friend," he said. Reiko took a deep breath, it was now or never.

"Um, I've actually decided to stop playing tennis," she responded as if it was nothing big.

"WHAT!?" was the response from all three adults and from there on the conversation took a downhill turn. It ended after a few shouts, a lake of tears, a couple death threats and someone telling someone else where they could stick their chopsticks. All in all, it wasn't one of the best days in the Echizen household.

**NOW**

Sakuno pulled herself out of her memory. After Reiko had stormed from the dining area, the adults had called up her grandmother and asked about what they should do. Ryuzaki had told them to take the girl back to America, but they all disagreed profusely. Ryuzaki then told them her other idea, based off a request by one of the regulars at Seigaku. It was risky and Sakuno might hate them for it but they felt it was for the best.

"I still feel wrong, deceiving her like this," Sakuno said gruffly. Rinko gave her an inquisitive look.

"I'm sure Reiko-chan will be fine. Now Sakuno-chan, are you feeling okay? You seem to be awfully short-tempered lately," Rinko added. Sakuno sighed and flopped down on her back to face the ceiling.

"I'm just tired from the stress, that's all," Sakuno replied. Rinko wanted to disagree and tell her to go see the doctor, just in case, but at that moment Sakuno fell asleep.

Reiko was tired the entire day and didn't really want to see her great-grandmother. Not that she didn't like her; well actually, Obaachan scared her. The old woman was ruthless and always seemed to bounce back after some surgery or horrible disease. Reiko had been spoiled, sorta, by her grandparents but never by her Obaachan. She always made Reiko do something, like clean the dining area, clean the bathroom, or just clean the entire house. Once she actually had to do that, her arms were sore for weeks.  
Reiko frowned at the memory as she approached he Obaachan's classroom, a dreading feeling came over her. What if she was made to clean the room? Or even worse the entire school? Her Obaachan wouldn't do something like that, would she? The door suddenly opened.

"EEK!" was the noise that Kikumaru heard as he opened the door to leave his last class of the day. He had stayed after awhile to try and convince coach to not allow girls to play for the boys. He wasn't sexist or anything, he just didn't like the one girl that everyone wanted to join. A few days earlier coach had pitched the idea to the entire team and so far with the exception of him and Kiadoh, no one disagreed. That's what made him feel worse, being on the same side as Kiadoh. He shuttered at the thought. Right after that though, Coach also listed all the girls she thought could more than likely make it. She showed them videos of the girls' previous matches. Of course everyone went crazy when they heard the name Echizen, they also all agreed she was the best out of them all, even Kiadoh!

"Eh? Shounen-chan, what are you doing over there?" he asked. Reiko, in terrible fear of her Obaachan, had backed and plastered herself to the wall opposite of the door. Reiko recomposed herself.  
"I'm here, because I have to see my Obaachan," Reiko replied.

"What for?" he asked, surely Coach wasn't going to give her a heads up about the tournament, that was supposed to be confidential until the day before the match. They decided they didn't want the girls who weren't picked to riot.

"That is none of your business, Snoop-san," she stated matter-of-factly, "and don't call me Shounen! I'm a girl!"

"But you look like boy, so what am I to do, besides you call me Snoop-san!" he retorted. Reiko's frown grew. "Look I'll stop calling Shounen, if you call me Etsuo-san."

"No way, I don't want to be on friendly terms with you," she snapped. Kikumaru's eye twitched. This girl was unbearable.

"It's not to be friendly Shounen-chan, I just don't like to be called a snoop or by my last name," he retorted. He gritted his teeth. Reiko snorted.

"That's a load of crap, I've heard about you Snoop-san. Kikumaru Etsuo, the friendliest guy on campus, easy to get along with, immediately gets on first name terms with everyone, especially likes to flirt and lead on the first year girls," she accused.

"Well than you should be fine Shounen-san, obviously I only flirt with girls, not boys in skirts," he replied calmly as took his foot and prodded her skirt. Reiko's face turned tomato red, either from the embarrassment of being called a boy or the anger that came from being called a boy, or possibly a combination of the both. She was about to punch Kikumaru in the face when her Obaachan appeared behind Kikumaru.

"O-Obaachan!" Reiko squealed.

"C-Coach!" Kikumaru stuttered. They both seemed to stand at attention, both extremely nervous. Ryuzaki smiled, the fear she imposed in people…

"Ah, Kikumaru-san, I see you've met my great-granddaughter," Ryuzaki said in a warm and friendly voice. Kikumaru just nodded fervently. Ryuzaki's smile grew wider. "I do believe you have practice right now?" Kikumaru didn't say anything, but instead just ran far away. Reiko gulped; she was now at the mercy of her Obaachan.

"Reiko-chan, follow me will you?" Ryuzaki said as she closed her classroom door, "And here, you can change into these, you might be here for awhile." Ryuzaki handed her a bag. Reiko nodded and followed her.

"Um, Obaachan, where are we going?" Rieko asked as they entered the area of tennis courts. Ryuzaki didn't answer and kept walking.

"You can change in the girl's locker room, I'll be waiting out here for you," Ryuzaki said. Reiko just nodded and walked over to the rooms. Oh, poor naive Reiko.

**10 minutes later**

"Obaachan, what is this!?" Reiko screeched as she came out of the locker rooms. Ryuzaki turned to see a very agitated Reiko wearing a tennis jersey and shorts.

"Good, your done, it's almost time for your match," Ryuzaki told her as she handed the girl a racket, ignoring the question completely. Reiko took the racket that was practically shoved in her hands.

"Match? What match?" Reiko asked, she completely confused.

"I got a call last night right as I was about to rest my old bones, do you know what that call was about?" Ryuzaki asked rather coldly.

"No?" Reiko said uncertainly, her Obaachan had never spoken to her that way.

"It was from your mother and your grandparents, they seemed to have been under the impression that you were giving up on tennis. Does that ring any bells?" Ryuzaki nearly snarled. Reiko stiffened, and then looked down at her shoes; she noticed that they were hers.

"What does it matter…if I give up?" Reiko said weakly. Why was it such a big deal?

"If you have that mind set then your just proving what he told you," Ryuzaki said, this time more calmly. Reiko's head jerked up to look at her Obaachan; how could she have known…

"He told me everything," she said as if she had read Reiko's mind. Reiko's drooped once more; she began to play with the stings of her racket. Something caught her attention.

"Obaachan, this is my racket," she said surprised, "You planned this with Okasan and Obasan didn't you!" Ryuzaki laughed, she had won. Reiko huffed, she had lost.

"That's my girl, now how about that match," Ryuzaki said. Reiko walked past her towards the courts. She turned after a few steps and placed her racket on her shoulder.

"Fine, but just so know, I'm out of shape," Reiko said, trying to skive out of the match.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Ryuzaki encouraged her.

"Who am I playing?" Reiko sighed; she wasn't going to get out of this anytime soon.

"You should know her. She's in your class. Ah, there she is now." Reiko's eyes widen.

"A-Akimi-chan?" she stuttered. Akimi smiled the creepy smile.

"Hello Reiko-chan, I hope we both play to the best of our abilities," Akimi smiled.

"Reiko, I'm believe you already know, Fuji Akimi."

"Ah, why are we allowing girls to play in the ranking matches?" Kikumaru whined as he reached the tennis courts the boys were playing on. Oishi groaned, his partner still got on his nerves.

"Because, Etsuo-san, it brings new and fresh moves and players to the team," Oishi explained for the umpteenth time.

"Isn't that what the freshmen are for?" Kikumaru stated.

"Etsuo-san, you saw how good those girls were. They're way loads faster and more agile than most of the guys here. Besides did you not see that Echizen girl? She apparently won an all boy invitational," Oishi remarked. Kikumaru sniffed haughtily. That Shounen-chan really was good.

"She also hasn't played since then, she could be out of shape," he argued.

"Muscles have memory, after a few practices I'm sure she'll be in great shape," Oishi argued back.

"That's if she even gets on the team," Kikumaru retorted. Oishi snorted.

"You don't think she will? She could easily beat Narawari-san," Oishi said. They both looked over at a boy yelling at some freshman and laughing and bragging loudly. They both frowned, no one could stand Narawari.

"What happened to getting Kawamura to play?" Kikumaru asked.

"That's still an uncertain thing; Fuji-bochou isn't sure if the plan will work," Oishi explained.

"Well what if she doesn't want to play?" Kikumaru said, not giving up.

"She's an Echizen, why wouldn't she want to play?" Oishi snorted. Kikumaru didn't say anything, but just remembered how the girl had denied completely about playing tennis and about her father. He also recalled the time on the landing, about how something had happened between her and her father. Maybe she wouldn't play.

"Go easy on me now, senpai," Akimi yelled across the court. Reiko didn't really want to do this, but she really had no choice. Her obaachan had threatened her with cleaning all the tennis courts.

"I'm not your senpai Akimi-chan, we're the same age," Reiko called back. Akimi smiled once more.

"You are certainly my senpai in tennis," Akimi argued. Reiko just sighed and bounced the ball and she threw it in the air. She did a simple, easy serve. Akimi easily returned. Reiko really didn't feel like playing, she was going to go easy and lose. That way maybe her obaachan would get off back. Reiko returned it back to Akimi so that the shorter girl could easily do a tougher return. Her planned worked; Akimi hit it straight to the corner. Reiko feigned not being able to reach it.

"15-love," Ryuzaki called from the ref's seat. She could tell Reiko wasn't truly playing; for starters she was using her right hand.

"Ah, it seems Akimi is really good," Reiko called over Akimi. However, this time the girl didn't smile, instead she frowned. Reiko was confused, shouldn't she be happy about getting a point.

"Reiko-chan isn't playing seriously; does she think that I'm not a worthy enough opponent?" Akimi said bluntly. Reiko sighed, that's not what it was, but she'd allow the girl to think what ever she wanted. The game reached 5-0, in Akimi's favor. Reiko kept feigning all her misses. Eventually a crowd came.

"Who's playing?" Reiko heard a few words from them.

"Fuji Kazuya's little sister and some other girl," came the reply. Reiko bounced the ball, only half listening.

"Hey, isn't that girl Echizen Ryoma's daughter?"

"Really? But isn't she losing?" Reiko threw the ball into the air, let the losers think what they want.

"I guess that's why Echizen-sama made them go to Japan, to get of this embarrassment," laughed one. Reiko's eyes narrowed, the ball was still falling.

"Just goes to show you, girls can't play," the other laughed. The ball flew over the net and landed right on the baseline and bounced toward the boys that were talking. The moved back and everyone looked over at Reiko. Her head was bowed and she was still in her stance. Ryuzaki smiled; at least she was going to play seriously now. Reiko lifted her head and glared at the boys. They faltered and backed up.

"I apologize Akimi-chan," Akimi looked up at Reiko, "I wasn't playing seriously, but now I that that is wrong." Reiko got another ball and bounced it once more. Akimi smiled, this was going to be fun. Reiko threw the ball in the air.

"Reiko-chan that was a great match," Akimi said as they walked towards the changing rooms. Reiko just sighed; she had ended up winning 7-5. She had completely disregarded her own promise. She smiled, at least it was fun.

**Enjoy! I own nothing except OCs and plot**

**~Defiance out**


	8. The Plan 2

Reiko was riding in the car with Ryuzaki after the game had finished. Reiko was still in a sour mood, she didn't like being played by others. Ryuzaki just chuckled as the girl pouted. She would get over it, eventually.

"You played a great game," Ryuzaki told her, breaking the silence. Reiko just huffed as her response. Ryuzaki rolled her eyes; this girl was such a drama queen.

"Get over it Reiko, what has happened has happened and you can't change that," Ryuzaki consoled. Reiko remained silent. "Though I am curious about one thing."

"What?" Reiko responded still facing the window. Ryuzaki ignored that blatant rudeness.

"Why were you using your right hand? Aren't you left-handed?" Ryuzaki asked her. She saw Reiko grip her left wrist. Ryuzaki understood. "Didn't that heal 3 months ago? Is it the yips?"

"No," Reiko replied tersely.

"There's no shame in getting the yips, some pros get it," Ryuzaki explained. Reiko ignored her statement. It wasn't the yips, she knew it wasn't. It was her own personal reason. She turned to face her great-grandmother.

"Speaking of pros, how come everyone has seemed to fail at telling me that _he _went back to being a pro?" she asked bitterly, she glared at her Obaasan, like she had betrayed her.

"How'd you find out?" Ryuzaki asked mildly surprised. They had decided not to tell Reiko about Ryoma going back to the pro league, seeing as how it might fuel some of her anger.

"Talk," was all she said. That made sense; she did go to a school that breeds tennis players left and right.

"Well why does it matter if he did? Shouldn't he be allowed to live his life?" Ryuzaki said indignantly.

"No." Ryuzaki's eyebrows knitted together.

"So what? You control his life now? Does he have to go through you in order to do anything?" Ryuzaki fired off quickly. This girl needed to be set straight.

"N-no, but…" Reiko stuttered.

"But? But what? He's his own person Reiko!"

"That still doesn't give him the right to move on as if nothing happened! That doesn't give him the right to go off and break a promise!" Reiko yelled quickly. She felt the tears coming but she fought them back. They reached the temple home, but they didn't get out yet. They sat in the silence.

"The reason we didn't tell you is because we knew you'd get upset," Ryuzaki said breaking the silence, "I was hoping that you would be mature enough to get over it, but I guess you proved me wrong." Ryuzaki got out of the car while Reiko stayed for a few more minutes, taking it all in. That was twice so far that someone made her feel bad about what had happened.

"This isn't my fault," she told to no one in particular as she got out of the car.

"So Reiko-chan how was the match?" Rinko asked during dinner that night. Reiko had been right when she thought that the adults in her life had planned this little match. She swallowed the noodles that she was munching on.

"It was fine, I suppose," she replied, not wanting to make them feel to proud of themselves.

"She had fun, you should have seen her after the match, she was smiling like she had won the lottery," Ryuzaki told Rinko. Reiko glowered at Ryuzaki but it was lost as Nanjiro slapped her on the back. She thanked God that she didn't have food in her mouth at the time.

"Knowing Reiko-chan, she probably beat her opponent easily," Nanjiro said haughtily.

"No, I won 7-5," Reiko said quickly, she still had hope of convincing them that tennis wasn't her thing anymore.

"Yes, it wasn't her usual love game, however I'm sure it would have been if she hadn't been missing those shots on purpose," Ryuzaki said casually. Damn that old woman! Wasn't she supposed to have bad eyesight? Didn't that happened to all old people?

"Reiko-chan why would you do that?' Rinko asked sounding surprised and hurt.

"Because I told you, I don't want to play tennis anymore. I want to start anew here in Japan. Not follow some trend that's been unceremoniously slapped on me," Reiko said. She'd make them understand.

"No one slapped anything on you, you chose to learn and you chose to play," Ryuzaki retorted.

"You're right, so why is it a big deal now when I chose that I don't want to play?" Reiko argued.

"Because the reason you have to quit isn't one that we can accept," Ryuzaki explained.

"My reason? What is a better reason than I'm tired of playing and want to do something else with my life?" Reiko insisted. Wasn't she old enough now to make her own decisions?

"Oh that's a fine reason, but it's not yours to claim," Ryuzaki responded.

"What are you talking about?" Reiko asked exasperated. Ryuzaki put down her food and stared directly at her great-granddaughter.

"You aren't quitting because you're tired, you want to quit in order to make your father feel guilty or angry in some way," Ryuzaki accused.

"I-I am not!" Reiko cried. She wasn't going to take much more of this. She slammed her food on the table and stood up.

"You can deny it all you want, but you know it's the truth!" Ryuzaki yelled, "And until you can accept that and change your ways you aren't allowed to stop playing tennis. You like it too much!" Reiko just stalked off to her room and slammed her door shut.

"Are you sure you didn't take that too far Sumire-san?" Rinko asked.

"Ah, she'll be fine Rinko, that's just Sumire-san's way of making her players wake up," Nanjiro explained. Ryuzaki stood up and thanked Rinko for the food, said her goodbyes and left to go home. The air was still tense in the area.

Reiko silently screamed into her pillow. She hated how they were right. She hated playing tennis. She hated her father. She hated how she seemed so readable, easy for others to guess what she was up to. She sniffled. She was tired; she wasn't built for endurance tennis. Her eyes became heavy. She fell asleep almost immediately.

"I'll go check on Reiko," Sakuno said a few minutes Ryuzaki left. She got up and walked to Reiko's door. She lightly knocked on it.

"Reiko, are you awake?" Sakuno didn't here a reply, so she slowly opened the door and saw her daughter fast asleep. She smiled, tennis always tired her out. She walked over to her. She pulled the blankets over her and moved her hair out of her eyes. She kissed her forehead and picked up a few stray clothes that had managed to find the floor. She walked back over to the door when she heard Reiko mumble something. She quietly walked back over to her daughter to hear what she was saying.

"Papa," Sakuno froze, Reiko hadn't called Ryoma 'papa' since she was 8, "Papa, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." Sakuno felt like crying, so Reiko did feel bad about what had happened. She stroked Reiko's hair for a few minutes and quietly left the room.

Reiko wanted to go and apologize to her Obaachan, to bad for her school was out the day. She woke up feeling bad about what she had said to everyone. They were just trying to make her feel better. _He _however, didn't get any remorse from her. _He_ was the reason she was in this pit. She got up and went to get breakfast. She saw a note on the fridge from her grandmother.

'_Dear Reiko, _

_Your Grandfather and I went out to visit some old friends. Your mother isn't feeling to well so try to be quite and let her sleep. Breakfast is in the oven. If it's cold go ahead and heat it up. Have a fun day._

_Love Obasan_

_P.S. there's a tennis court out back._

Reiko pulled out a milk from the fridge and looked over the note once. A tennis court huh? Why not?

Reiko walked out back to the tennis court that Obasan had mentioned. She was told that the court was made by her Ojiisan back when they first lived here. The monk that had originally lived here had died a while ago and left the temple and house to her Ojiisan. She remembered coming here to visit. She loved it, watching her father and Ojiisan play…she shook head.

She walked over to base line with a basket of tennis balls and her racket. She picked up the first one and did the serve she did at the match. She had to admit, after 3 or 4 months of not playing it felt good. She hit another one; it was a good way to relieve stress. She hit a tricky serve that would hit one sideline then bounce to the opposite side. She could just play for fun; she didn't have to play in tournaments or anything.

She smiled, she had only been in Japan for a month and she already felt better. She served another ball, it went out. She still needed work obviously. She massaged her shoulder and closed her eyes.

_"You are bending your knees to much again and you're extending your elbow to much which is why you're sore," _said a voice from her mind. As much as dislike _him_ right now, _he_ could always tell her what she was doing wrong.

"My elbow seems fine, I think it's my shoulder," she replied. If anyone was around her listening, they'd think she was crazy. She waited for its response.

"_Serve it again and tell me where it's sore,"_ was all it said. She groaned, even in her mind he would disagree with her. She threw the ball in the air and hit it, it still went out, but she knew what her problem was. She cursed as she gripped her right elbow.

"_Watch the language,"_ _he _said warningly yet calmly. She rolled eyes and bent her elbow. It was a good thing she noticed it before she hyper extended it. She'd put some ice on it when she got inside. She went to go pick up the balls she had hit.

_"One more thing, why are you using your right hand?" _She threw the last of the balls in the basket and snickered.

"Because I'm not you, Oyaji," she replied as she went inside.

Ryuzaki was in a foul mood and driving, and for her those two should never mix. The Board of Jr. High Tennis had somehow gotten wind that she was going to allow girls to play for the boy division. They had called her up on her day off and had told her flat out that she couldn't do it. She had responded by telling them that it was her team. They threatened that they would disqualify the team if they found out that any team member was a girl. She then left in a huff after recommending where they could stick their rackets.

Now she was angry, and driving, but mainly angry. How dare they tell her what she could and could not do! If she wanted girls that were fully qualified to play on her team those racket-polishers weren't going to stop her. She would make sure that her team and anyone related to them would keep this quiet. The only problem was that the girls might not like having to masquerade as a boy. She'd needed to find an easy way to get a girl on the team without anyone having any suspicions.

She pulled into the temple were her granddaughter was staying. Rinko had called her earlier asking her to watch Reiko and Sakuno. Sakuno wasn't feeling to well and Reiko couldn't really take care of her own mother. She got out the car still slightly pissed. She ringed the door bell. She sighed and bowed her head. How would she accomplish this?

"Obaachan?" she lifted her head to look at her granddaughter. Her granddaughter, who was excellent at tennis. Whose hair was already cut short like a boy's and who was tall and lean for her age. A smile came to her face and a plan formed in her head. Of course it would involve some false documentation but that was easy enough and Reiko would have to get on the team first, but that to was an easy accomplishment.

"Obaachan, are you okay?" asked the poor innocent girl in front of her.

"Reiko-chan, have you ever been told that you look like a boy?"

** DUM DUM DUM! What's going to happen? Lol, you can already guess. Anyway i only own the OC's and plot. Please reveiw**

**~Defiance out**


	9. So it begins

"Obaachan, this plan is ridiculous!" Reiko whined as she was being driven to school the next day. Her Obaachan had come over yesterday and immediately told her she looked like a boy, and then spun a plan about Reiko joining the boy's team. Reiko didn't want to join; halfly because she had just promised herself that she wouldn't play for competition and the other half was the fact that she had to "become" a boy.

"You don't be ridiculous. The plan is fool-proof!" Ryuzaki cheered, raising one fist in the air, while at the same swerving to avoid another car. Reiko let out a little shriek and covered her eyes before continuing her argument.

"No, it's not! You forgot one thing; people know that I'm _his_ daughter! Even if they don't know who I am, they'll know my last name!" Reiko exclaimed.

"And that's why on your new documentation your last name is Kishimae," Ryuzaki.

"Oh, come on! That's just a different way to read Echizen! Like nobody's going to notice that!" Reiko cried. Ryuzaki flew over a speed bump. They arrived at the school, they parked and got out.

"Oh, what a shame, one should pity this old woman, her own great-granddaughter won't fulfill her one last dying wish. Boo-hoo," Ryuzaki fake sobbed into her hands. Reiko looked at her incredulously.

"Puh-lease, you're not dying! People should pity the great-granddaughter; her Obaachan is making her masquerade as a boy," Reiko accused. Ryuzaki immediately stopped fake crying.

"Yes well, people tend to lean towards the elderly anyway. Now today is the ranking matches for the tennis team, the regulars already know who you are, all of them except Narawari-san," Ryuzaki told her.

"Why not Narawari?" Reiko asked. Ryuzaki frown deeply.

"Narawari-san isn't the best teammate, he tends to be an egotistical jerk towards the freshmen," Ryuzaki explained.

"Then why don't you just kick him off the team?" Reiko asked once more.

"Because he only acts that way when I and Fuji aren't there," Ryuzaki sighed, "So no one can pin anything on him."

"Well that sucks for you and all, but I still don't think its right that I should compete…"

"Don't be silly, all of the guys want you to play," Ryuzaki reassured her.

"Really?" Reiko said disbelievingly.

"Well, no, not exactly. Technically you have the majority. Kiadoh and Kikumaru aren't too thrilled," Ryuzaki corrected.

"Of course, Snoop-san," Reiko grumbled. Ryuzaki smiled, Reiko was convinced. Anything to annoy the people that she dislikes.

"Be at the tennis courts after school for the matches," Ryuzaki said. Reiko just mumbled a reply.

**Later that day**

"I feel ridiculous," Reiko muttered to herself. She was wearing a boy's uniform that she had changed into when school had ended. She was now headed to the tennis courts to sign in for her matches.

"And you should for agreeing to Ryuzaki's plan," said a familiar voice from behind her. She turned her head and saw Kikumaru. She huffed and stomped off.

"Oi! Shounen-chan, don't be like that! Show your senpai some respect!" he yelled after her. She turned once more.

"Show me a senpai that deserves respect and I will Snoop-san!" she called back. Kikumaru scowled, and then remembered something.

"Shounen! You had better win in your block! I'm tired of that Narawari-san!" he yelled at her, she didn't turn this time but just waved her racket as a reply. She reached the registration table. There was a boy sitting at the table writing down a few things. He had light brown hair from what Reiko could see.

"Excuse me," she said carefully so as not to startle him. He looked up so quickly that it scared her a little. The boy closed his eyes and smiled. A smile she could easily recognize. This boy must be a Fuji, she shuddered.

"Hello there, you must be the person Ryuzaki was telling the team about earlier," the Fuji boy said. He held out his hand for her to shake.

"Um, uh, yes, I'm Kishimae Rei," she took his hand to shake. She felt him slightly grip her hand, this boy creeped her out.

"I'm Fuji Kazuya, I'm the captain," he told her, he still gripped her hand, "you know for someone who plays tennis so intensely, you have soft hands." Reiko was greatly confused and startled. He had said it so indifferently that it could be taken as an insult or a compliment. Reiko had no idea which.

"Um…" Reiko paused, thinking for a response that fit this sort of awkward situation, "Okay." That was her brilliant response. Reiko wanted to hit herself repeatedly for that. Fuji kept his smile and let go of her hand.

"You will be in Block C; this is the list of your opponents and times. Your first match is soon, so you might want to change soon," he said as handed her a sheet.

"Heeeey, Meeesteeer Fuujiii! I need me time-table!" yelled a boy behind Reiko. She recognized it as someone's sad attempt at speaking English. The boy shoved her aside. She regained her balance before falling on her butt.

"Narawari-san, please be more considerate, you almost knocked over someone," Fuji said calmly, but Reiko heard annoyed undertones. Narawari glanced at her, giving her the one-over.

"Whatever," was his reply. Reiko narrowed her eyes.

"Fuji-san, why am I playing against a freshman? I want to play somebody with skill," Narawari whined after he looked over his table of matches.

"Narawari, how many times do I have to tell you to call me captain?" There were those undertones again, "And did you ever think that in order for that freshman to play they have to have skill?"

"Pfft, as if, who is this Kishimae Rei anyway?" Narawari whined. Reiko realized that he wasn't really whining, but that was just how his voice sounded.

"As a matter of fact, the person right next to is," Fuji said, all cheerfulness returned. He was obviously confident that Reiko would beat this Narawari. Narawari turned to actually look at Reiko. She glared right back at him. He was beginning to get pissed at her defiance. He pulled out his racket and swung it towards her face. She didn't flinch once.

"Narawari-san, please refrain from terrorizing the freshmen," Fuji warned him. Narawari ignored him and glowered at Reiko, who did the same back.

"I don't like that look," Narawari said. Reiko didn't respond. Narawari huffed and stalked off.

"Sorry about him…"

"God! He pisses me off more than Snoop-san!" Reiko yelled. Fuji was the one who was startled; he had expected a quieter demeanor. He regained his smile; this was going to be a fun year.

Reiko snuck out of the equipment shed where she had changed into a playing outfit. She looked around to make sure that no one was in the vicinity before walking out towards the courts. She still felt like this plan was going to fall flat on its face and her with it. She sighed deeply and entered the court.

"Heehaw heehaw! Oh man, this is rich; I have to play a freshman. This will be the easy game I've ever played," laughed a boy that greatly resembled a donkey. Reiko's eye twitched. Why is that all boys were the same when it came to tennis? Oh well, it was his loss, literally.

Reiko won all of her matches 6-0 so far that day. In every one of them her opponent looked down on her for being a freshman. Reiko could only imagine what their reaction would be if they knew she was a girl. What was even worse was that she was using her right hand. Maybe people weren't as good as they used to be. She went to the water faucet and got a drink.

"Nya, Shounen-chan has been doing well, or so I hear," Kikumaru said coming up to the faucet. Reiko turned off the faucet and wiped the excess water from her mouth.

"I've been doing fine," she responded nonchalantly. Kikumaru's smile grew wide. He hadn't been able to watch any of her matches, but Oishi had and he said that the girl was just as good as she was in the videos, if not better.

"As long as you can beat Narawari-san next, we'll be happy for you to join," Kikumaru said.

"Well, well, well; if it isn't the super-shot freshman. You must think you're hot-shit for being able to defeat some loser juniors," a whining voice came from none other than Narawari. Reiko wondered if it was a nasal condition.

"Narawari-san, don't terrorize the other players or I'll have to tell Fuji-bochou," Kikumaru said exasperatedly. Why did Narawari always have to do this?

"What? So you actually want this freshman to join?" Narawari whined.

"If he's good enough to join, then yeah, its fine," Kikumaru fought back. Reiko was surprised, wasn't Kikumaru against her joining? Maybe he disliked Narawari more.

"Tsh, whatever, this loser won't be able to beat me, and he defiantly won't be able to even last a minute with Fuji-san," Narawari whined loudly, like he was trying to convince himself of that. He walked away with a slight limp; Reiko thought he was trying to sway his hips. Could Narawari flow that way…?

"Yes, he is," Kikumaru said suddenly. Reiko looked up at him wondering he read her mind.

"Wha…"

"Yes, he's gay, but that's beside the point. He tries to up his masculinity by destroying his opponents on the court," Kikumaru explained.

"Oh, okay," she didn't have anything against gays, in some parts of America there were cities full of them, "Why'd he bring up me playing Fuji-senpai?" Kikumaru looked slightly surprised.

"You don't even know who you're playing?" cried Kikumaru.

"Yes I do! Fuji-senpai isn't on here!" she yelled back. She held up her card that had all of her opponents' names on it. Kikumaru snatched it. He noticed that a flap of it seemed to have been carefully and precisely folded under and taped. He carefully removed the tape and showed her what was hidden.

"See," he said pointing out Fuji's name.

"What?! Who would hide that?!" she cried. Kikumaru knew, but didn't tell her. It was more than likely Fuji himself, not wanting her to stress over playing the captain.

"Just calm down, as long as you just beat Narawari-san, you'll be a regular. So you have to stress as much over Fuji," he said trying to calm her down.

"But-but-I,"

"Don't tell me the great Echizen Reiko is afraid to play against the captain," said Ryuzaki as she came up to them.

"Obaachan! You shouldn't say that out loud, someone could hear you! And I am not afraid! I'm just…" Reiko searched for that word, but was at a loss. She wasn't an articulate person.

"Well then, since you're not afraid, here is some advice, maybe you should play seriously with Fuji, in other words with your left hand," Ryuzaki said. Reiko stiffened and began to walk away.

"I don't know what you mean Obaachan, I'm right-handed," Reiko said and left them there.

"That girl…," Ryuzaki sighed.

At the Echizen temple the phone began to ring. Unfortunately for the caller, and Sakuno, she was the only one home. She wanted sleep; she felt sick all the time and wanted some rest. She forced herself to grab the phone by her bed.

"Hello," she said groggily into the phone. Maybe her horrid voice would scare off the caller.

"Sakuno?" said a familiar voice that she hadn't heard for about a month. Sakuno jolted right up, wide awake now.

"R-Ryoma?" she stuttered. She felt tears sting her sleepy eyes; it would be fantastic if it was him, to talk to him.

"Yes, Sakuno, it's me. Who else would call my perverted Oyaji?" he said sounding annoyed. Sakuno giggled, her husband would always insult his father, but she knew he'd break-down if something bad happened to him.

"How are you doing? It seems it was a cakewalk for you to go back to the pros," she asked him. She felt as giddy as she did when she was in high school, when they first started dating. She even tried to twirl her rat's nest of hair around her finger.

"I'm doing fine," he told her. Something about his tone sounded off, Sakuno had caught it. Her eyes sadden, she knew why this was. He really did miss them, oppose to what all those crappy tabloids said.

"So how is…everyone?" he asked, avoiding being specific about who he really wanted to ask about.

"She's doing alright, she started playing again. Obaachan even convinced her to try out for the boy's team," Sakuno said, catching on to what he actually wanted to ask.

"It's good that's she's playing, but why the boy's team?" he asked.

"Obaachan thinks it will it help her blow off steam and give her a real challenge," Sakuno explained. Ryoma was silent for moment, taking all that she had said in.

"As long as she does fine and how's her wrist?" he asked.

"It seemed to have healed completely, but she won't use her left hand at all, not even for writing or eating," Sakuno said, "Do you think it's the yips?" Ryoma smiled, he knew why.

"No it's fine, she'll get over it. I have to go now, but Sakuno,"

"Y-yes," she mentally cursed herself for stuttering.

"I love you," he told her. She blushed and cradled the phone to her ear.

"I love you too," she whispered back, she missed him so much. The tears fell as she hung up the phone. She got out of bed, she needed food.

Ryoma hung up the phone, but not before he heard a sob. He sighed, she wasn't in good shape. He had heard from his mother that Sakuno was becoming moody and eating a lot, as well as getting sick. It reminded him of the time before Reiko was born, but couldn't possibly have anything to do with it.

He sighed once more and leaned back in his chair. It was much too silent in his home without his two girls. He closed his eyes and thought about what had happened in the last five months. It all began with that damn invitational; he never should have let her play. He should have fought against those damn officials and their rules. After that Reiko didn't leave her room at all, she stopped talking to her friends and wouldn't go to school for about three months. Apparently three months of voluntary solitude had turned the girl cold towards one person, namely him. That, of course, led to some harsh words. That was when he called Ryuzaki, who told him that Reiko should go to Japan, to have some space.

He sat up and opened his eyes. Apparently space was working, even if that space was halfway across the world. At least she was playing tennis again.

He smirked when he recalled that she no longer played with her left hand. So, she wasn't him was she?

**Well here it is! Hope you all enjoy it! And thank you to all who review and favorite! You guys are what keep me going! I'm using a lot of exclamation points! I own only the OCs and plot! **

**~Defiance out**


	10. I'll force you to

"Hey freshman, maybe when this is all over you can become my towel-boy," laughed Narawari-san. The match hadn't even started yet and the whiny idiot was already going off about how he was going to defeat her. Reiko was angrily ranting in her head, but looked as calm as a pond on the outside. Truly she wanted to strangle the boy, but she was pretty sure that was against the rules.

"Hey, are you going to stop laughing any time soon, I kinda gotta play against the captain soon," she complained. That match was the one that she was really looking forward to. She was sure that in order to even be captain for Seigaku you had to be the ultimate best.

"Don't be in too much of a hurry, you won't even be able to score a point against him," the whiny boy exclaimed. Now that she thought about it, he really sounded like a horse.

"Speaking from experience?" she asked him. He seemed taken back, but that seemed to focus him in on playing. He threw the ball in the air. He hit an easy serve. So, he was going to go easy on her, eh? What a huge mistake. Reiko did a lightening fast return to the left corner. Narawari was left dumbfounded as he realized what had happened.

"T-that was a fluke," he stuttered. Reiko rolled her eyes, it was always the same dialogue with these boys, couldn't somebody come up with some new material?

"Whatever you say senpai," she replied and waited for him to serve once more.

**1 match later… (estimate the time yourself****) **

"H-how could I get beaten by a freshman? It's impossible!" whined Narawari. He was completely out of breath and sweating a lot. Reiko was a little damp from sweat, but that was mainly because it was hot. She was upset that all the senpai she defeated still couldn't come up with some new material. What was wrong with a "Hey, good game," or a "wow you're good,"? Was it that hard? Possibly even a handshake. But no they always had to be depressed and think it was a fluke, or that they were having an off day.

"Yeah, apparently not so much," she said rather calmly. Narawari glared at her and his grip on his racket tightened.

"Y-you shut up," he yelled at her then threw his racket at her. Reiko didn't have time to duck as it came flying at her face. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. She slowly cracked one eye open and saw the racket about two inches from her face. She followed the hand that was holding it up to the face of the person who had just saved her. She saw a boy with dark brown hair and purple eyes…Momo-chan! She was proud of herself for remembering his name.

"Oi! What do you think you are doing Narawari-san? I'm going to have to report this to the captain," he yelled at Narawari. He looked extremely pissed.

"Psh, whatever! I quit, so don't come crying to me when the lame-ass freshman loses the Nationals for us," he yelled in that horribly whiny voice. He stomped off angrily, cursing loudly. Momoshiro sighed and lowered the racket from Reiko's face.

"Are you alright?" Momo asked her. She just nodded and wiped off some dust.

"Thank…"

"Good cause everyone is looking forward to your match with Fuji-bochou," he cried cheerfully putting her in a headlock and messing up her hair. Reiko struggled to get out of his grip, but ultimately failed.

"Momo-chan, can you please let me go so I can prepare for that match," she complained from under his armpit.

"Oh, sorry, just got a little too excited. Everyone is looking forward top the match between the captain and the freshman," Momo told her. He let her go and she cracked her back.

"is it really that big a deal?" she asked exasperatedly.

"well yeah, you're the first freshman to play in the ranking matches since, well, your dad," he said. Reiko stiffened, great another way she was just like him, was this never going to end.

"Though also you are the very first g-" Reiko slapped her hand over his mouth. Everyone gave them suspicious looks. Didn't Momo know that only the regulars, minus Narawari, know that she was a girl?

"Momo-chan, didn't Coach Ryuzaki tell you to keep that under wraps?" she forced out. She really wanted to yell at him.

"Nya, who says under wraps anymore? Well, I guess since its Shounen-chan, I should expect him to be old-fashion," said Kikumaru as he walked over to them. Reiko could feel the blood vessels in her head pulsing, ready to burst.

"Hey, Momo-chan, have you given Tezuka-san your scores yet? He needs them before the start of Fuji-bochou and Shounen-chan's match," Kikumaru informed Momo, who took off running.

"Why before my match with the captain?" Reiko asked. Kikumaru flicked her on the forehead before answering.

"Because Tezuka-san, like everyone else, wants to watch your match," he stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Reiko was silently cussing him out in her head, but kept silent as she rubbed her now sore forehead.

"Why is it that special?! I mean sure, it's the newbie against the captain, but doesn't everyone already 'know' whose going to win?" she did quotes in the air when she said know.

"People know that Fuji-bochou is going to win, we just want to know if you'll be able to score a point against him. That's something only top players and Tezuka-san have been able to do," he explained.

"Oh, great confidence booster, Snoop-san," she snapped. He just shrugged.

"It doesn't really matter, you'll be on team regardless, you beat Narawari-san," he said. Reiko ignored him and walked over to where her stuff was. She took a sip of water and relaxed. She had a couple minutes before play and she wanted to relax.

"You really shouldn't sit after playing, besides you need to stay warmed up for your next match," said a shadow that came over her. She looked up and saw a boy with soft brown eyes and reddish-brown hair. She stood up faced him.

"Alright," she told him, she went back to sipping her water.

"You also shouldn't drink so much water, it'll give you cramps," the boy said. Reiko put her water down and crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" she asked him. The boy looked vaguely shocked then smiled warmly. Reiko got the feeling that this was someone she could trust easily.

"Oh, I am Kawamura Naoto, I'm the team manager," the boy answered. He held out his hand, Reiko shook it. So this must be the son of the great Kawamura Takashi, the best sushi maker of all time.

"E-Kishimae Rei," she responded. She quickly covered up her mistake. Kawamura just kept smiling warmly.

"It's ok, I know who you are," he told her. He put emphasis on the 'know' so that Reiko could get the under meaning. Reiko smiled back, one less person she had to worry about, plus he seemed really friendly.

"Kishimae-san, our match is going to begin now," said Fuji. Reiko nearly jumped out of her skin, the boy was like a ninja, coming out of no where all of sudden. She grabbed her racket and headed to her side of the court.

"Good luck Rei-san!" Kawamura yelled. Reiko smiled and waved her thanks. She took her serving stance.

"Let's have a good game, shall we?" Fuji said. Finally, some originality, and as an added bonus, it came without the cocky attitude. She threw the ball into the air; she hit it at just the right angle. The ball went soaring to the sideline. Fuji went racing towards it; the ball however, did not bounce outward, but instead towards his body. It was Reiko's variation of her father's twist serve. Instead of hitting it straight at the person, she made them run. She smiled confidently, but it disappeared as the ball came soaring back. It hit the base line and went out before she could hit it. She was mildly surprised; most people couldn't hit it on the first try.

"15-Love"

"That's an interesting serve you have there. Ingenious, really," Fuji said. Thank god he wasn't cocky, or else Reiko probably couldn't handle it. She grabbed the ball and bounced it once more. So that plan didn't work, maybe she should aim for the baseline? But she could only do that with her left. She decided to go for the corner instead. Unfortunately, Fuji got there in time to hit back to her. She was able to hit it back, but missed it on his return when he hit it to the corner.

"30-love"

This was harder than it seemed. And she got the impression that Fuji wasn't even going all out. This was going to be a hard game.

"5-0, Fuji. Service Fuji," called the referee. Reiko was panting hard now. She had lost all of her service games without even getting a point on the boy. It seemed as if he always knew or something. Could anyone really be that good? His style did seem familiar…

"Are you going to get serious any time soon?" his question broke her train of thought as she focused on him.

"What do you mean?" she asked him. His creepy smile grew wider; Reiko didn't think that was possible.

"I mean, are you going to play with your left hand," he stated more than asked calmly. Reiko maintained her composure; her Obaachan must have told them she was left-handed. She wondered what other stats she had given her.

"I don't play with my left anymore," she told him.

"I guess I'll have to force it out of you then," he said, it almost sounded like a threat, his voice became a little too excited. He served the ball so fast that Reiko almost didn't see were it was going. She couldn't catch up to it, or reach it.

"15-love." She understood what he was trying to do now. He was hitting it just out of her reach, or at least out of her right-hand's reach. The brilliant jerk. She played with the strings on her racket, darn habit always got to her. He hit it once more, going out of her reach once more.

"30-love"

"Going to get serious yet?" he asked her. She remained silent and kept the racket in her right hand. "I guess not." He served it, Reiko immediately ran towards it but the unusual spin on the ball made it go out of her reach. She was getting tired of this.

"40-love, game point," yelled the ref. Cat-calls and cheers were coming from outside the fenced area, but Reiko had long since drowned them out.

Fuji bounced the ball. It was going to be that last serve of the game. He was a little disappointed, he was hoping for more of a challenge. But the girl was steadfast in not using her left hand. Oh well, hopefully over time she would overcome that stubbornness, if not he'd force her too. He was not above using petty tricks like he was now. He threw the ball in the air; he let it linger on his fingertips before completely releasing it, that's what gave it its unusual spin. It made it spin much faster and on a tilted axis. He hit it with his racket, right towards her, then bouncing as far as it could from her right arms reach. He was expecting the ref to call his win when he felt the ball whiz past him. His normally closed eyes opened slightly. Reiko's racket was in her left hand. She had switched hands in midair, something most pros found difficulty doing. Fuji smile surfaced, it was a good return. To bad the game was over.

"Out! Game Fuji, 6 games to Love!" the ref yelled. The crowd went wild, cheering for their captain. Reiko sighed and tapped her racket on her shoulder. Damn left arm muscle hadn't gotten soft like she thought it had. She had hit it back too hard; she was aiming for the baseline.

"So are you ready to become serious yet?" Fuji asked as he held out his hand for her to shake. She took it and looked up at him.

"Are you?" she asked him back. His smile grew wider once more, so she had noticed that he was holding back, she had a good eye.

"Only when you do, and by the way," Reiko looked expectant, like for advice, "you really do have soft hands." Reiko nearly fell down with shock. This boy was so, so; she sighed, there was no word on earth in any language to explain Fuji Kazuya. She just nodded as her response and walked off the court after grabbing her stuff. She sighed, if only she hadn't hit it so hard…

"Reiko! Reiko!" her Obaachan came running towards her yelling.

"Obaachan, you can't call me that…"

"Reiko your mother collapsed today, she's in the hospital," Ryuzaki interrupted her. Reiko's world stopped.

"Wha-what?"

"Reiko, your mother is pregnant."

"WHAT?!"

**DUM DUM DUM! Cliffhanger! Congrats to those that correctly guessed what was wrong with Sakuno. And thank you to those that review, and to kikumalu01, yes, yes i did reply, he was going to be put in anyway but i was like what the heck, why not put him in now. So appluase for you, take a bow! ^-^ To all the other constant reviewers, you als get an applause becuse you care about my story obviously! ^-^ So i own only the plot and OCs! thats all for now, my dad is getting pissed! AND SORRY TO ANY WHO READ THE "UPDATE" WHEN IT WAS THE SAME CHAPTER, MY DAD WAS GETTING PISSED SO I WAS RUSHING WHEN POSTING ANS PROBABLY DID THE WRONG ONE. MY BAD!!!! '-_- SORRY**

**~Defiance out**


	11. The truth hurts

"How did this happen?" Reiko cried as her Obaachan was racing towards the hospital to pick up Sakuno.

"How did what happen? How did she collapse?" Ryuzaki asked, not truly getting the context of Reiko's question.

"NO! How in God's name did she become pregnant?!" Reiko cried, she didn't even shriek as her great-grandma went flying over a curb, sending her side of the car a foot in the air. Ryuzaki gave her an incredulous look.

"How else do you think it happened? Your parents obviously…"

"LA LA LA LA LA!" Reiko yelled as she covered her ears. She didn't want to hear _that_. Ryuzaki rolled her eyes, this girl was so immature.

"I get that she had to do _that_, I'm just wondering how she could when _he's _not even here," Reiko explained after she deemed it safe to take her hands off her ears. She had had the talk before; she certainly didn't need again, especially from her Obaachan.

"Obviously they didn't educate you over there in America well enough in fertilization. It takes about a week for the egg to actually begin to form a baby, and then no one will notice anything else unless they can recognize the signs. Such signs as a missed period, emotional change, and fatigue; things that your mother had." Ryuzaki explained.

"But, but that would mean that she was pregnant before she came here," Reiko said uncertainly, not quite getting it. Ryuzaki wanted to bang her head on a wall, this girl was so dense.

"Yes, that's what I was saying," Ryuzaki said exasperatedly. Reiko still looked extremely confused. Though really she wasn't, she was just trying to keep a certain mental image out of her pure, innocent mind. She didn't need that trauma. They reached the hospital and entered.

"This brings back memories," Ryuzaki sighed. Last time she was in this hospital she was stressing over her granddaughter's first born. She glanced at Reiko who was just curiously looking around the hospital.

"What do you mean?" Reiko asked her after they found the room her mother was in.

"Didn't your parents tell you? This is the hospital that you were born in," Ryuzaki she said slightly surprised, yet more focused on the numbers on the doors, looking for Sakuno's.

"Really? I always thought I was born in America," Reiko replied now fully engrossed in the topic. Its not that her parents lied to her, it was just that she had just always assumed, she didn't have long-term memories of living in Japan.

"Ah, here we are," Ryuzaki said, ignoring Reiko's statement as she opened the door and stepped in the room. Sakuno was sitting on the edge of the bed talking to an older woman, more than likely her doctor. They both looked up as Ryuzaki entered.

"Ryuzaki-san, it's nice to see you again," the woman doctor said, holding out her hand to shake. Ryuzaki smiled brightly and shook, then went over to Sakuno. The doctor noticed Reiko and smiled warmly.

"And this must be Reiko-chan, last time I saw you, you were a little baby," the doctor said, nostalgia flowing from her. "Of course then you were just born, such a healthy and cute baby, and here you are now, a cute young girl." Reiko felt her cheeks turn pink. This doctor was weird, who reminisces about giving birth as a pleasant happy time? As far as Reiko knew, birth was a horrible, painful, nasty business. The doctor left after handing Sakuno a slip of paper.

This left the three women in an awkward state. Reiko didn't know how to react to finding out her mother was pregnant. She was going to be a big sister. Her mother was going to have a baby. In months a small, loud, bladder control-less child would be in there household. Reiko frowned; this was not a good thing.

"Reiko-chan, are you okay?" Sakuno asked uncertainly. This was a big shock for all of them. She didn't think she'd get pregnant long after having her first. Ryoma and she had both agreed that one was enough, and that neither of them wanted to go through that time again. But she guessed that that one night they spent together on their last night…Sakuno blushed furiously, even after all these years, he could still make her flustered.

"I should be asking you that Okaasan, you're the one that's turning red," Reiko pointed out. Sakuno quickly covered up her face. Ryuzaki took this time to interject.

"Sakuno, have you called Ryoma yet and told him?" Ryuzaki asked. Both Echizen women stiffened, but not for the same reason. Sakuno had almost forgotten that she needed to tell her husband this, surprising news. She was nervous at how he would respond. Reiko, however, was angry; she didn't want him to come to Japan. Now he would most certainly have to, this baby wasn't even born yet and it was already making problems for her.

They all drove back to the temple house in silence. Neither Reiko nor Sakuno shrieked or squealed when Ryuzaki went flying. Ryuzaki was getting tired of this. Reiko needed to get over this, this problem, whatever it truly was. Thy reached their destination and were immediately greeted with hugs and questions. A while later Ryuzaki left to go to her apartment and Sakuno went to go call Ryoma. Reiko watched her with narrowed eyes. Despite the fact she didn't want to talk to him, she wanted to hear what he'd say. She excused herself to her bedroom. She went over to the phone between her room and Sakuno's. If she knew her mother, she was using the phone in her bedroom. Reiko grabbed the corded phone and went into her room. She slowly lifted the phone out of its dock, careful to hold the disconnect button down. She heard a ring, he hadn't picked up yet.

"Hello, Echizen residence," said a slightly sleepy voice. Reiko knew immediately who it was. It was around seven at night in Tokyo, so Reiko assumed it was around eight in the morning in New York. She smiled cruelly thinking _he_ hadn't had enough sleep.

"Ryoma? I-It's Sakuno," she heard her mother stutter, she must have been nervous.

"Sakuno, what's wrong?" Ryoma asked, obviously picking up on the nervousness.

"Ryoma, you know how we spent our last night…" Reiko quickly snatched the phone away from her ear. She seriously didn't want to hear was what was going to come after that. She waited a few seconds before risking putting it up to her ear once more.

"Are you sure?" she heard Ryoma ask Sakuno sounding shocked.

"Yes, I went to the doctors office earlier and I'm about 5 weeks pregnant," Sakuno answered. Reiko noticed that she left out the part about collapsing, probably so as not to stress _him_ out.

"I see," _he_ let out a long sigh; _he_ was processing things, "do you want me to come over there?" Reiko scowled. They didn't need _him_ to come over here.

"Well, um, ah, you see," her mother stuttered.

"I understand, I'll come when its time," he told her.

"I'm sorry Ryoma…"

"Its fine Sakuno, but I wonder,"

"Yes?" Both Reiko and Sakuno leaned closer into their respective phones, wondering what was going to be said. Reiko didn't notice that her finger had come off the disconnect button, but someone else did.

"I wonder if this one will hate me too," he said. Reiko's grip tightened on the phone, she didn't know why but what he had said had affected her.

"I'm sure she doesn't…I'm sure this one won't," Sakuno responded. She said her goodbyes and I love you's and Sakuno hung up the phone. Reiko was about when she heard a voice.

"Your dominant hand will never get weak." Reiko froze, was he talking to her? He had to have been, her mother had hung up, but then how could he have known? She finally realized that she was no longer holding down the disconnect button. She stared at the phone; something held her back from hanging up.

"It doesn't matter if you don't practice with it anymore," Ryoma continued when he noticed she didn't hang up, "You use it every day for normal tasks which keep it in shape. So truly it will never grow weak, unless you stop using it completely, which if you want to ruin both your arms then by all means go right ahead." Reiko's hand was shaking; she wanted to yell at him, to tell him off, to say he was wrong and that he had no business poking in her life especially when she lived halfway across the world from him. Only problem was that he was absolutely right, and she hated it.

She slammed the phone down in frustration. She angrily threw herself onto her bed. She hated not having a snappy comeback, she hated him being right, and she hated a lot of things right now. It seemed like the move to Japan had revealed all those things. She snuggled closer her pillow closer to her face. She still didn't know why, but what he had said really got to her. Her mother didn't even defend her! So what if she hated him, didn't she have a good reason? Did she really even hate him? Maybe, it felt more like she just had a strong dislike, like one would have towards poisonous mushrooms, or blowfish. She didn't know, she had to think about it, she needed sleep. Her eyes slowly closed and soon she drifted off to dreamland.

** i know that this one is shorter and that it took longer to get it posted, but as it turns out i have fractured my wrist. So i couldnt type correctly for a few days. i'm still trying to get used to pecking at the keyboard with one hand. i really dont know how long it wil take for the next chapter. so please be patient. pleas enjoy and review this chapter.**

**~Defiance Out**


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